Kingdom Hearts Remake 1
by nightelf37
Summary: As the title says, it's my 'remake' of Kingdom Hearts 1. Along with OCs, myself as one of them, there will be a touch of Neopets too. Basically speaking, it is my own personal re-living the adventure in the Kingdom Hearts universe. COMPLETE
1. Prologue: The Awakening

(For a hint on what I am wearing in this adventure, I have a blue shirt with a yin-yang decal, jeans, and blue sneakers. By the way, my name is Rael. I am also wearing sturdy glasses and those motorcycle gloves which do not cover your fingers.)

I don't know how or why, but when I came to, I was on a green circular platform with a triangle with 3 circles in its edges colored red, blue, and yellow respectively. A voice then called out to me and said, "Much to do. Little time to do them. Take your time. Never fear. Now walk forward."

Though quite startled, I walked in the middle as the voice said. Then 3 pedestals appeared at the smaller circles on the floor and above them appeared a spear, a bazooka, and a pistol. The voice said, "Choose your weapon wisely."

As I decided among the 3, I chose the pistol (I disregarded the spear since I do not prefer close combat and even if the spear has more reach than a sword, I still have to approach the target. I disregarded the bazooka as well since although it is a ranged weapon, it looked too bulky for me to handle and I don't want slow.) and once I took it a shield appeared on my right hand since I had the pistol on the left. Then the green platform shattered and I fell down slowly (Weird!) and soon landed on a purple square platform with a spiral pattern. Then, Shadows appeared around me (Not the conventional, harmless sort).

Just then The voice came again and said, "Don't be afraid. You must fight at times like this to survive."

I then gripped my gun tightly and when one of the Shadows jumped towards me, I blocked with my shield, swung it off, then blasted away (The pistol had a silencer, I assume, since I heard no gunshot, which would be deafening.) at the other Shadows who disappeared after 2 shots. After busting the lot, a dark portal (I don't know what else I can call it) appeared from beneath and sucked me in. When I came to, I was on a pink triangular platform with a treasure chest in front of me. Once I opened it revealing a money munny bag transparent door in front of me. It then opened and flashed a bright light in front of me. When it faded, I was on a red octagonal platform with a Feng Shui pattern. Just then 8 Shadows appeared all around me. I fought them of course, dodging attacks, blocking them, receiving attacks from behind (I soon learned to counter those), returning them, and after that, I was suddenly on a yellow 5-point star shaped platform with another star pattern within it, then I saw Darkside appear in the center (Anyone who played Kingdom Hearts would know what I'm talking about).

At first I was intimidated by the colossal size, but then the voice said to me "At times, there will be bosses like this, so you better get brave. Besides, " with a queer sense of humor, "there is no need for any pangs of regret; these Heartless are made out of darkness and must be eliminated."  
I gathered my courage, keeping what the voice had said in mind, then started firing away at Darkside (I noticed my pistol's ammunition was infinite since I never heard any click signifying "out of ammo".) and any Shadows that appear. Soon Darkside was defeated and suddenly I was sinking into the darkness and when it reached all the way to my head, I lost consciousness.


	2. Chapter 1: Destiny Islands

Part I. Introductions

When I woke up again, I was underneath a tropical-type tree that had on it a cluster of yellow star-shaped fruits. Just then a blonde girl about my age (16 years old) wearing a blue headband, a yellow shirt with a zigzag pattern, matching jogging pants, and sneakers of the same color, passed by and noticed me. When I looked at her face, it resembled that of Naminé (even though she doesn't exist at this point of the story; I mentioned her only for description purposes). As she approached, I noticed I was holding a slingshot on my left hand and a few stones on the right. Then, she asked what my name was. When I answered, she said "My name s Florina".

Then when she asked if I was hungry, even if only a bit, I aimed my slingshot at the fruits above and shot a stone at them. The stone hit with perfect accuracy and after a few of the fruits fell (oddly, without any bruises), Florina said "That fruit is called a paopu. Try one."

I did and it tasted, to me, like a mix of mango and banana. When Florina walked away from me, I stowed my slingshot and stones in my pocket, gathered the rest of the paopus, then followed As I walked and ate another paopu, we came to an area where we saw these kids, Tidus, Selphie, Wakka, Kairi, Riku, and last but not least, Sora. (KH players would know them, especially Sora). They were either lounging around or doing friendly duels with one another. She approached Wakka and asked if he can spare a duel with me (I winced at the thought). He twirled his Blitzball and said okay. He and I went over to the 'battle area' (which was the beach) and everyone else went under the shade of the trees to watch. Then Florina stood up and called out "Begin!"

Part II. Versus Wakka

At the moment "Begin!" was heard, Wakka tossed his ball towards me and before I knew it I was struck. (Oddly, I did not feel pain on any specific part of my body but rather it spread out all over evenly so there was little pain in general.) Just when I recovered, I saw Wakka running for his ball. As a response, I took out my slingshot, loaded a stone, then shot at Wakka, who received the hit but soon recovered quickly and continued for his ball (He must be having the same pain condition as I, and perhaps everyone else has that too). I ran around him and when Wakka got his ball, he tossed it at me and I slapped it back and it stunned him . Then I shot away at him and he signaled defeat when I saw stars flying around him. When I want over to Florina, Sora came over to Wakka, gave him something to drink, then Wakka was back on his feet again, then the 2 began to duel once Kairi called out "Begin!" . Just then, another guy with hair as white as Riku's came over to us. He wore a silver shirt with a volleyball decal, grey pants, and black boots. As he combed back his clean-cut hair with his hand, Florina introduced me to him as Windelle and she also introduced him to me (by my name, of course). Before he can say anything else, I heard Sora call out victory as Wakka (given the same drink as before) walked to our 'spectator area' (which was under the shade of the trees)and Selphie came over to the battle area and called out for me to battle her and Florina nudged me over to the battle area then called out "Begin!"

Part III. VS Selphie

At the sound of Begin! , Selphie lashed out her jump rope and, unlike last time, I was ready and caught the end of it with a bit of difficulty. Naturally, she tried to tug back her weapon , then I let go of the end I was holding and is lashed back at her and she was hit. I then took out my slingshot and shot away at her but she was not to lose so quickly for she lashed out at me again and, this time, I was struck by that blow. She was about to strike again when Sora called out that he wanted to fight her. She consented and I was switched out . As the 2 battled, and as I ate another paopu, Windelle said to me, "You know, I never saw you around Destiny Islands before".

Florina said, "Maybe he came from somewhere else, like Kairi had."

"Kairi came from another world?"

"Yes. At least Sora and Riku say so."

"Okay. Seeing there is a second case something like this happened, I'm inclined to believe you, even if Kairi and he don t know one another since maybe they aren't from the same world."

Before either of the two can say anything else, Sora claimed victory once again and this time, Tidus asked me to battle him. Like before, I was persuaded to enter the battle area with him as Sora and Selphie (rejuvenated by the same drink he gave to Wakka when I had defeated him) returned to the 'spectator area' . Then Florina called out "Begin!" once more.

Part IV. VS Tidus

At that signal, Tidus suddenly charged at me with his toy sword, which was made of wood, and I barely dodged him in time by jumping to the left but he struck me successfully again since his toy sword was on his right hand. He managed to follow up with a 1-2-3 combo. I ran all the way to the shore and then pulled out my slingshot and shot away at him. However, Tidus swiftly (Whoa!) deflected my shots. He then reached me and struck me 1-2-3 again. Before I knew it, I was knocked out. Tidus then helped me up, gave that healing drink (Tastes like Gatorade™ Blue Chill to me.), then Sora came over to substitute in my place and then called Wakka and Selphie to fight him in a 3-on-1 match. As I returned to Florina and Windelle, I saw 2 boys come over to us. One of them looked like Wakka, but he wore a green beanie, an orange undershirt under a green jacket, green jogging pants, and orange sneakers. The other guy had the likeness of Tidus, wore a blue beanie, blue T-shirt with a green vest over it, blue shorts, and green sneakers. I gave them 2 paopus to eat and after the short snack, the guy in green and orange, who called himself Gregorio asked Windelle, "So? How good is he?" (Referring to me, I suppose.)

Windelle replied, "Not that well when it came to Tidus and I can't determine if he would've won against Selphie had Sora not tagged him out."

The other guy, named Yoris, then suggested that Windelle, Florina, and I do a 3-on-1 with Sora. I was surprised Florina fought as well; she pulled out a slingshot to prove it. Windelle then pulled out a slingshot as well. Just then, Sora proclaimed himself victorious and the three of us (me, Windelle, and Florina) stepped up to battle area as the defeated 3 (Wakka, Selphie, and Tidus) went over to the 'spectator area' as Sora waited for us while in his battle stance.

Part V. 3 on 1 Match

At Kairi's signal, Sora started running towards me. As Florina and Windelle ran in opposite directions (I was between the two of them.), I acted fast and as Sora thrust his sword down towards me, I caught it and shoved hard as Sora kept bringing down his weight on me. Just then, I saw Florina and Windelle shoot at Sora and he received the blows real hard. He then tried to get his toy sword off my hands but I grasped on no matter how he moved it as my 2 teammates continued firing away. Soon enough, stars appeared over Sora s head as he claimed defeat. Riku came over, substituted for Sora, saying, "You can handle 3 opponents with a ball. jump rope, and toy sword, but you can t handle 3 slingshooters? Pitiful, although it's probably due to the new kid s unorthodox maneuver."

He then did his battle stance and when Kairi called out "Begin!", Riku rushed towards me like Sora had. Riku held his toy sword on his right hand compared to Sora s doublehanded handling so I had no idea how to do what I had done with Sora so I fired away instead. Like Tidus, he deflected every shot and soon enough was striking me and was evading my teammate s shots with little ease. Soon enough, I was KO d and Riku started on Windelle next (In here, being KO d doesn't mean knocked unconscious as I was able to see the battle but under half-closed eyes and being unable to do anything). Though Windelle dodged quite well, it wasn't long before he received Riku s blows as well. Soon, he was defeated as well and I daren t watch Riku bust Florina as well. A few moments later, Riku proclaimed victorious saying, "Piece of cake."

Kairi, Gregorio and Yoris came over to each of us and gave us that healing drink and we were back on our feet. Everyone then walked off in different directions saying "See you later!" to everyone else. I followed Florina and Windelle as they walked together.

Part VI. Day s End

As I walked with the two (It was about 3 PM), Windelle said, "Maybe you could use some training with that slingshot."

I said, "Now you mentioned it, I guess I do need some practice."

"All right then. Let s get a few lessons started. Wanna go on without us, Florina?"

"No thanks. I wanna see you train him."

"Okay."

For 2 hours, I practiced the art of the slingshot and soon, it was sunset and Windelle said, "It's time for us to go home. Wanna come sleep over with me?"

I don t know why, but I quietly refused the offer and said, "Maybe I should continue training on my own."

"Oookay. Will you be here tomorrow?" , Florina asked.

I gave her a where-else-would-you-think-I-can-go look. The two then left and when they were gone, I treated myself to another paopu. Suddenly, I received a hard blow from behind that I was knocked unconscious. [Of course I had no idea who did it; (s)he probably wanted me to 'spend the night here' because when I woke up, it was daytime.]


	3. Chapter 2: Second Day at the Islands

When I woke up from my previous forced sleep, Florina and Windelle were staring at me. Windelle said, "Hey, Rael. Are you okay?"

"Uh .. Yeah. I think."

"Good thing the perpetrator did not intend to kill you or if (s)he did, perhaps the operation gone bad." , Florina said.

"I guess so."

"Anyways, what do you intend to do?"

"Uh. I guess I'll do some more training with Windelle with the slingshot."

"That's a good idea." , Windelle said. "Anyway, how did you get here? And do you remember anything about where you were from?"

"I do remember where I am from but I do not know how I got here."

"Right."

"No really. But I do remember being in some weird place and some black thing swallowing me up."

"Weird.", Florina said. "I remember Sora saying something like that to Kairi yesterday when I gossiped with her."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Anyway, you should get started with your training."

"Yeah. I guess I should."

During the following hours, Windelle trained me further on fighting with the slingshot and soon, I was able to strike a fairly distant target with relative ease. Florina watched the two of us the whole time. At 12 NN, Windelle halted training and shot down some paopus for us to eat. Windelle said, "Well, I should get going. I want to do a duel with Riku alone and see how I'd do."

"What!" , I said. "We weren't even able to beat him together. What makes you think you alone can kick his butt when our butts were kicked despite our outnumbering him?"

" I wasn't fully focused with you as an obstacle."

"Then what about after I was KO'd?"

"I had problems dodging Florina's shots despite her being very accurate. Riku s evasiveness made those shots meant for him threaten to hit me."

"Oh. I see."

"Anyways. I better be going. Bye."

Once Windelle left, Florina asked, "So, you wanna continue training?"

I replied. "If it's okay, sure."

"All right then. Let s get this started."

It was a long session and it made me hungry though I had paopu breaks in between. At 5PM Florina declared done and I was better than before. "Well, you okay?"

"I guess so. I could really use some rest."

"Okay. See you later."

Florina then left and I decided to take a nap underneath one of the trees. I don t know how long I slept but when I awoke, It was dark and stormy but without rain.


	4. Chapter 3: Departure

As I looked around I saw a yellow backpack with two side pockets. I don't know how it got there but I expected a long adventure, so I took the bag (hoping I would find its owner), put it on, and shot down every paopu I could see and stuffed it in. Oddly, it never reached full (must be a 'magic satchel') but as I was in a state of panic, I ignored the hammerspace phenomenon and proceeded to find a way out. As I wandered, I encountered the same Shadows from "Prologue: The Awakening". When I tried shooting them with my slingshot, they only flipped over for a moment, then start approaching again. Seeing it was useless to fight them, I ran until I suddenly bumped into Florina who said, "You seen Windelle?"

I replied, "No. Let's look around."

As we did, I saw Sora and when we approached him I looked where he was looking and saw Riku and Windelle under a 'dark portal' (Again, I don't know what else to call it.) Just then, Sora said, "Where's Kairi? I thought she was with you."

Riku said, "The door is open."

"What?" I called out, which caught Sora's attention.

Before he can say anything to me, Windelle said, "The door. It's open, guys. Now we can go to the outside world." (Must be talking about the other worlds.)

"What are you talking about?', Sora replied. "We gotta find Kairi –"

" — and the others too.", Florina finished.

"They're coming with us." Windelle called back.

Riku then said, "Once we step through, we mightn't be able to come back. We may never see our parents again. There's no turning back."

Windelle then stared at the three of us (Sora, Florina, and I) and said, "But this may be our only chance. We can't let fear stop us. We're not afraid of the darkness."

The two of them then extended their left arms towards us as a dark portal opened around them. Sora and Florina grabbed Riku's and Windelle's hands respectively. But as I saw them getting slowly sucked in, I instinctively searched in my bag and pulled out a rope. I tied it around Florina and Sora lasso style and I tied the other end to a tree and tugged at it as the four were being sucked in. A few moments later, I lost resistance in gripping and when I opened my eyes (which were closed while I was pulling) I only saw Sora and Florina. Once I removed the rope off them, they separated in 2 different directions and I decided to follow Florina, thinking Sora will be able to take care of himself. As I caught up with Florina, we were suddenly surrounded by Shadows with no means of escaping. Just then a gun resembling the Gun Del Sol (from the Boktai series, separate from the Kingdom Hearts Games) but white appeared in my left hand and a grey riot shield (the ones police use) did the same in my right. I then suddenly knew what to do and started shooting away at the Shadows. A yellow laser appeared each time and eliminated them.

When I looked at Florina, she had a red variant of the gun I now hold but she had no shield to go along with it. Together, with our new weapons, we went across the island busting enemies as we went. Sooner or later, I saw a toy sword and, thinking it'd be useful later, I stowed it in my bag. Just then, we ran into a clearing and into Sora who was holding a sword resembling a key (It's the Keyblade!). Before any of us could say anything, Darkside appeared. As Sora instantly rushed towards it, I saw Shadows approaching opposite us in tens. Feeling confident that Sora will be able to take care of Darkside in his own, I shot away at the approaching Shadows and Florina did the same. A few minutes later, I saw Sora deal the final blow on Darkside as it fell. Immediately after, a 'black hole' appeared, sucking the three of us into it as I lost consciousness.


	5. Chapter 4: Traverse Town

Part I. First Minutes

Once I came to, I was alone in a dark alleyway. When I checked around my stuff, I still had my bag and the paopus were still there. I still held the weapons I had during that dark storm, but then, they vanished in front of my eyes. When I thought of them, they appeared again. I practiced this 'summoning' a few times and once I was used to it, I ate a paopu, got up, then walked out of that alley and in front of a neon sign saying "Traverse Town". The civilians around did not notice me as I walked (my gun and shield, which I will consider as my weapons, were back wherever they were until I "call out" for them again), uncertain what to do. Suddenly, at an empty street, some 'bad guys' who wore Samurai-like costumes of green, and wielded halberds with gun attachments (as I found out later), ambushed from above, and surrounded me. Just to feel a bit less helpless, I called out my weapons. Just then I saw short black beings in armor, the Soldier Heartless, approach me and my enemy thugs from both sides of the street. The thugs then lost interest in me and went for the Soldiers. Despite their supposed battle experience, the thugs were beaten by the Heartless and they themselves turned into such, leaving me on my own. I then shot away at the Soldiers but soon, I saw they were closing on me fast. I turned around to see an alleyway and a large slab of wood. I then grabbed the slab of wood, entered the alley and blocked it off with the slab of wood. Just then I heard footsteps. Just when I 'hugged the wall', I saw a shadowy figure run past me and kicked away the barricade I placed, taking (as I found out seconds later as I looked) a few Soldiers with it. When I looked out of the alley to see, I saw the 'shadowy figure' who was revealed to be a blond guy, with bright blue eyes, a black vest with red designing along the zipper, a black beater underneath that, long baggy jean shorts, black and red tennis shoes, and a large black tribal tattoo on the left side of his face. He was too busy busting the Soldiers with his quick martial arts to have noticed me. When the dust settled, he said, "Damn those Heartless. Now I'm late for my errand." and then ran off. I then crept out of the alley and decided to walk on, gripping my weapons a little tighter.

Part II. Irvine, the Sniper

As I strolled on, I then heard a voice that said, "They'll come at you out of nowhere." I turned around and saw that it was a young man with long auburn hair in a ponytail with a black cowboy hat over it. He was also wearing a purple shirt, a khaki colored long jacket, black fingerless gloves and brown chaps over black trousers.

He continued, "And they'll keep coming so long as you have that gun." Then he scratched his chin saying, "Seems strange to me that it chose you." as he pulled out his shotgun which was

at his back.  
"What do you mean by that?", I asked.

He replied, "Forget it. Now let's see what what that can do." as he approached and reached out with his other arm.

"No way. Your rifle's stronger than this puny pistol.", I said.

"Looks can be deceiving. And how would you know the strength of MY weapon? Either give it up or fight me. Running will only have me chase you and give you these two choices again. I don't have much time and neither do you."

Seeing no other reasonable alternative, I said, "Fine! Have it your way." and we then started our battle.

The 'cowboy' began with some shots which I blocked with my shield. Just then he did something I did not expect; he rushed towards me, pushed my shield aside a bit, and then thrusted the barrel of his shotgun at me. I then spun around and bashed him with the shield and, after I then put some distance between us, I saw him suddenly cast a Thunder spell from his other hand and I was hit but somehow wasn't paralyzed (looks like the 'pain' condition applies everywhere and that clothes don't get damaged in here). I then shot away at him and he was repeatedly stunned but soon, he was back on his feet and zigzagged towards me, dodging my next shots. He then, quite unexpectedly, swung his shotgun at me like a sword a number of times and at the eighth blow, he pushed me away and did a shot. Just then, I remembered seeing a Potion in my bag when I had searched for a rope in it. As I took it out and used it, the cowboy was already approaching me once more. Just as he was close enough for a punch, though I was sure he wasn't about to do just that, I did a point blank shot at his shotgun arm and he retaliated. Just before he fell, he scattered a green powder at me and I passed out.

Part III. The Rest of the FF8 Gang

When I came to, I heard a voice that said "Wake up." My eyes were closed since I was still tired, so I grumbled. The voice said, "You okay?"

I replied, "I guess."

"Those black beings were after that gun of yours. But it's your heart they really want, because you wield it."

"Florina? Is that you?"

"Florina? Who are you talking about?"

"Huh?" I then felt around and found what I later discovered to be a Blaster Edge. When I opened my eyes I saw that I was on a bed and when I looked over to the left I saw that it was a brunette girl with her hair reached to the middle of her back and had three caramel highlights. She wore long, sleeveless, blue-hued rib-knit duster sweater that has a pair of white wing designs on the back, matching rib-knit arm warmers, a black halter top, a denim button up skirt, a black ribbon on her left arm, and black bike shorts that have zippers going down the front with a pair of silver buckled black boots.

She then said, "I see you're okay. Hey, Irvine. He's fine."

The cowboy then appeared and came over saying, "Thank goodness, Rinoa. I thought I did an overdose of that sleeping powder." I then saw my gun and shield lying on the floor next to Rinoa's feet.

"A Gun of Light.", Rinoa said. "We had to pull them from you to ward off those black beings. Turns out that's their way of finding you."

Irvine then said, "It was the only way to save you from them. But it won't last forever. Still, it's hard for me to believe that you were the chosen one, though I don't think I'd do well with it if I was." He then picked up my weapons, which suddenly disappeared from his hands and reappeared on mine. He then walked towards me and said, "I suppose beggars can't be choosers."

I replied, "Why not just make some sense here and tell me what's happening?" Just then I saw a lady with tied-up blond hair in an orange zippered vest extending to just above her hips and having a high collar. The lower half of her vest is worn open, revealing the midriff. Over her arms she had dark brown arm warmers with brown gloves. She also had a long orange skirt with pockets, a silver waistband with black pants underneath the skirt, a brown belt and black shoes. She came over with a tray holding a pitcher of water and a few empty glasses.

She then said, "There are several different worlds out there other than where you came from and this place. My name is Quistis, by the way."

I replied, "I knew that." When she winced, I then said, "Uh, I meant about the worlds, but I never thought it would be real."

"That's because they are never connected except via imaginative minds and their mediums to share it within their own world. Until now."

She then continued, "When the Heartless came, everything changed."

"Heartless?"

"The dark beings I mentioned, remember?", Rinoa said.

"Those without hearts. Hence their name.", Irvine continued.

"What attracts them is evil in people's hearts."

"And every heart has evil, even if it is minuscule."

"Ever heard of Stickee?"

The guy who butted in my Heartless encounter in Traverse Town suddenly came in the room as saying, " Hey there! Name's Zell. About Stickee, he's a mysterious accomplice of another man named Ansem, who studied the Heartless. Ansem recorded all his findings in a very detailed report. However, none of us have it, just in case you were going to ask for it, since Stickee scattered it pages everywhere to many worlds."

Irvine said, "The Heartless are afraid of that gun as well as another mysterious weapon named the Keyblade. They'll keep on coming for you no matter what."

Rinoa then said, "I have to apologize for what I said to you at the time you were still mumbling in bed. What I said was half true. They really are after that Gun of Light, but they don't want your heart; they are after that weapon itself."

I replied, "Well, I did not ask for this."

"That gun has a mind of its own and it wanted you. So tough luck."

"How'd all this happen?" Then I stood up saying, "Wait a sec! What happened to Destiny Islands? Florina? Windelle? Sora?"

Quistis calmly replied, "We don't know. Rest for a bit." And I did.

Part IV. Red Armor

Just then, during my nap, I heard fighting outside. I got up, put on my bag which was next to the bed and got outside to see Irvine, Rinoa, Quistis, and Zell (I'll classify them as SeeD Remnants) surrounded by Heartless. (Here, Irvine had the Valiant, Rinoa had the Pinwheel, Quistis had the Chain Whip, and Zell had the Metal Knuckle) As they fought them off, I joined in the fray with my weapons and soon we busted the lot, and Zell did an uppercut on the last Soldier, sending it flying into the sky. Irvine then said, "Let's split up. We got Heartless to bust."

–Strangely, fate seems to keep them from meeting Squall (i.e. Leon), Yuffie, Aerith, or even Cid–

–Anything that may have happened in between I'll leave it up to your imagination on what they are. This applies for the whole story and not just this chapter.–

As the four ran off in different directions, I went off another and soon ended up in a town square. Just then I saw 2 guys falling towards me and I was hit. When I got up and off them, I recognized them by their beanies; Gregorio and Yoris. Before I could ask what they were doing here, a magic wall blocked off the streets and Soldiers appeared. Before I could tell them to run for a corner, Gregorio 'summoned' a long javelin and Yoris 'summoned' a reduced-size "Mech's Bazooka" and the three of us fought off the Soldiers. After the fight, I asked them how did they get their weapons, they said, "The same way you got yours."

Before I could reply, a number of metallic parts fell from the sky and bounced around the field. They then assembled into a "Red Armor". It then sent its left side at Gregorio, and it's right side at Yoris, leaving me with its body and head. My two companions were doing pretty well, but then the parts left for me were heading for me and began tackling. I shielded every attack, then I put some distance between me and the "Red Armor" and blasted away. I repeated this sequence many times. Soon enough, the "Red Armor" broke down, released a heart, then vanished. The magic wall then fell away.

Part V. A New Mission

After the battle, they said that they were looking for me. The SeeD Remnants arrived and confirmed that. I then asked the two, "Do you know where the others (Wakka, Selphie, and Tidus) are?".

Yoris said, "They are safe in an apartment somewhere. We've been there."

Gregorio said, "We've been assigned to a mission by someone named 'The Solar Boy'. We were told to find the one with that gun you have now and take it to him. The gun you wield right now is called a DirLuxGun (Direct Light). We've been given a 'Gummi Ship' to travel between worlds and find him. We and the other 3 evacuated the island with The Solar Boy's help and his Gummi Ship. We do wish to find Florina and Windelle as well. However, it's HAPPY FACES ONLY in the ship since it's powered by happiness. Believe me."

Zell then cut in and said, "But first, you gotta get some extra skills first. Come with me." And the three of us did as the others returned to 'home base'. Zell led us to an alley and at a door with a flame on it.

–The Hellfire Club scene comes up revealing to them not only their plans for the Keyblade wielder, but relative plans for the DirLuxGun holder as well and that there were some guys resembling Wutai Soldiers from Crisis Core alongside the Disney Villains–

–Sora's Co. have left Traverse Town and are heading for Wonderland.–

He then told me to shoot at the flame and when I did, the door opened and the three of us entered; Zell remained outside. Then, we met a somewhat loony old wizard in blue wizard robes who said, "Oh! Another set of adventurers. I remember the last set had a kid with a Keyblade as leader. Now I have a gunslinger here as leader. What a contrast!"

I said, "Wait a sec! Do you know the kid's name?"

Why yes, but let's talk about that another time as I am only here to give you this. Name's Merlin."

He gave me a pair of winged shoes, a retractable scooter and whispered to me some magic words to cast the basic spells; Fire, Thunder, Blizzard, and Cure. (I shall not tell what those magic words are since I want to keep it as a secret.) Merlin continued, "Those shoes are for you to maneuver in ways you never thought of possible like jumping higher than you're height, surviving falls that would've otherwise killed an ordinary man, dashing on walls, that sort of thing. This here scooter is for distant traveling, though it's obvious judging by what it is. Now good luck to you."

I put on the shoes (stowing away the old ones, of course), stowed the scooter, and we said goodbye to Merlin and left the house where Zell was waiting outside.

"So? How'd it go?", he asked.

"Just fine.", Yoris said. "Well, we better get to the ship now. Got the teleporter device, Gregorio?"

He said, "Oh yes. Well, bye." and as he pressed the device's button which looked like a block with a big red button, Yoris held his arm, and he held mine with the other. We then blacked out and regained consciousness almost instantly and suddenly we were in the Gummi Ship's cockpit. (I'll leave the inside of the Gummi Ship to your imaginative powers. As the story goes on however, your 'picture' of the Gummi Ship may change.) Gregorio was at the controls and suddenly, I had a feeling of crossing hyperspace. Half a minute later, we stopped and suddenly, before I can blink an eye, Yoris (who was at the other seat next to Gregorio) pressed another button and we were teleported down into the middle of a forest full of giant mushrooms and flowers.


	6. Chapter 5: Wonderland

As I got up, I demanded to Gregorio and Yoris, "What's with the fast and abrupt traveling? I almost lost my lunch!"

Gregorio then said "Sorry. But I sensed another Gummi Ship and I was thinking of finding out who were those travelers."

"That must be the guy with the Keyblade and his companions."

"I suspected the same thing.", Yoris said.

"But why all that fast navigation?"

"I wanted to find out who they were.", Gregorio apologized.

"All right, but first, let's have a snack." which we did. It turns out that Gregorio and Yoris had brought extra snacks with them so I did not need to use up my paopu supply. Still, I ate a paopu, spat out the seed, and 'quickly' planted it close to the flowers saying, "Since Destiny Islands is now gone, I wish to spread the last of it's existence by planting them in other worlds."

We then got up and found an opening and when we crossed it, we were in a maze of hedges. Impatient to find something, Yoris blasted a fireball into one of the hedges. However, the hedge grew back and Card Soldiers appeared from all sides with spears and axes ready. The three of us then stood back-to-back as they surrounded us. Then, the cards rushed in and we fended them off with difficulty as they only faint for a moment, then get up again. However, they became ashes when Yoris shot a fireball at them and when I cast Fire from my DirLuxGun. Soon, the platoon of cards were gone and we decided to wander the maze without 'cheating' (which Yoris just did previously). As we walked, Yoris rummaged in my bag and pulled out 3 cowls colored green, blue, and red. He then said, "We must not look like we are from other worlds."

He pulled off 3 wide-brimmed hats of the same 3 colors. Gregorio and Yoris pulled off their beanies and put on the green and blue hats and cowls respectively as I put on the red ones (I took off my glasses before putting on the red cowl and put them on after). Soon we ended up at a court where the Queen of Hearts (judging by her attire) was accusing a 7-year-old girl with long, blonde hair in which a black bow is tied around, a blue dress with a white pinafore, and white tights and black Mary Jane shoes. As we moved along the hedge walls of the 'court room', and just before the Queen was about to sentence the girl (whose name was Alice, as the Queen announced it.), we saw Sora come enter the scene, along with Donald Duck, who as a Magician and Goofy, who as a Knight (of sorts).

Sora called out that he knew where 'evidence' proving Alice's innocence was. The Queen then imprisoned Alice in a cage, and ordered Sora and Co.(Donald and Goofy) to seek this evidence. Before they went they had a bit of a chat with Alice which was short since the Red Card Soldier repeated what the Queen ordered. As they left, the three of us just waited. Just then I noticed Gregorio aiming his javelin at Alice shotgun-style and imitated a shot. I then saw Alice react as if she was pricked by a mosquito. Yoris whispered, "Gregorio just shot a Tracker onto Alice to make sure the stays there." A few minutes later, I saw a Soldier Heartless run for the Queen and Sora's Co. following. Knowing they won't reach it in time, I shot at the Soldier and it vanished. The Queen considered this action as an outrage and sent her Card Legions at all of us, even accusing the three of us to be Sora's cohorts despite our separate denials. As the Card Soldiers went for us, Sora and I saw that Alice's cage was covered and was risen above the court. The six of us (Sora, Donald, Goofy, Yoris, Gregorio, and I) all fought the Card Soldiers with difficulty because of the same reasons as our previous encounter with them when Yoris attempted to 'cheat'. During the struggle, I saw Sora attacking some gears which, in turn as I looked, lowered Alice's cage. At the end of the battle, the caged opened to reveal NO Alice. The Queen was outraged by this and instead of continuing her attack, she ordered ALL of us to search for Alice, and then told her Card Soldiers to step aside. Sora's Co. went out first, then Gregorio 'shot' Trackers at them as we followed. As we did so, I asked him to track Alice, but when he tried to with his Mini-map, she did not show up, which would've revealed a headshot of her, but Sora's Co did appear in the map as well as the device's. Just then, a Large Body Heartless appeared. (Only those who know quite a lot of Kingdom Hearts woud know.)

As it began to pounce on me, I blocked with the shield and as we did a shove-of-war, Gregorio then pierced his javelin on its back as it vanished. We then lost sight of Sora's Co. and we decided to take a rest as my DirLuxGun relies on direct light (i.e. sunlight, lamplight, torchlight, you name it but not moonlight, mirrored light, or anything like that). Just then, the three of us were suddenly plummeted up into the sky and were suddenly back in the Gummi Ship and then, I saw a squadron of black "Vic Viper" (the protagonist ship in Gradius) ships came flying towards us.

"Where did they come from anyway?", I muttered as they approached.

– Back at the Hellfire Club scene, they continue to plot and this happens after every chapter.–

My 2 friends quickly went to the controls and swiftly maneuvered the ship as I watched them. A few minutes later the fleet was obliterated and we saw the Gummi Ship of Sora's Co. Take off in the distance. We then followed them in a 'spying pace' and I went to sleep in one of the ship's bunks.


	7. Chapter 6: Olympus Coliseum

Part I. Preliminary Trials

When I woke up, I was no longer wearing the cowl and the wide-brimmed hat anymore. When Gregorio and Yoris came in, they were wearing their beanie hats again.

Gregorio said, "You feeling better. If you are, I guess the Refresher system is working. It unconsciously brings your body to do those everyday evening and morning to-dos such as dinner, sleep, wake-up, baths, breakfast, that sort of thing."

Yoris then said, "We better get some new duds for our next destination. And here they are."

Yoris got out 3 Greek helmets colored red, blue, and green respectively. After we put them on (mine's the red, Gregorio's the green, and Yoris' the blue), we teleported down and landed in front of what I recognized as the Olympus Coliseum. What surprised me more was that Sora's Co. were there too. As the six of us entered (Sora's Co. still had no idea of our presence.), I saw a familiar satyr on a pedestal staring at at the wall saying rules (Oddly, it was in English, though the U's looked like V's).

Without turning around he said, "Good timing. Gimme a hand, will ya?"

He then pointed to a fairly large pedestal and asked us to move that for him.

"I gotta spruce this place up for the games.", he continued.

We all then pushed it together with great difficulty (Strange that Sora's Co. did not recognize us even though we only changed our headgear.), and after it was moved, We were extremely tired. Sora and I came over to the satyr and we said, "We finally moved it, just like you asked."

The satyr was shocked and said, "'We'? You didn't ask for help, did ya?"

Then he turned around and saw us then said, "Oh. Wrong guy. What're you doing here?"

He jumped down from his pedestal and as he walked towards us, he continued, "This here's the world-famous Coliseum — heroes only. And I got my hands full preparing for the games. So run along, pip-squeaks."

He then did an akimbo position and said, "Look, it's like this. Heroes are coming all over to fight ferocious monsters right here in the Coliseum."

Donald then demanded, "You got heroes standing right here in front of you!"

Goofy then put his hands on Sora's shoulders and said, "Yup. He's a real hero chosen by the Keyblade!"

"And we're heroes too."

The satyr then said, "Hero? That runt?" Pointing at Sora. "And these cohorts of yours too?" Pointing at the three of us. He then laughed hysterically.

"What's so funny? I fought a bunch of monsters!", Sora shouted out.

"Us too.", I said.

The satyr then called back, "Hey, if you can't even move this, you can't call yourself a hero!" and he pushed the pedestal without success. "Okay, so it takes more than brawn. Well, well, let's see what you can do."

Part II. Finally Admitted

We were led to a 'training room' and the satyr told Sora and I to clear the room of 50 barrels in 1 minute. As Sora headed for one of them and started breaking them with his Keyblade, I ran to the center and started shooting the barrels which broke in 3 shots. Seeing it's taking quite long, I suddenly discovered how to do a charge shot which busted a row of barrels in one blast. The two of us finished with 3 seconds to spare, then the satyr then snapped his fingers and the room 'changed' and more barrels (60 to be exact), then he told us to finish the course in 99 seconds.

Acting fast, I saw Sora run for a barrel again, busted it, then ran for another. I then decided to try out my new shoes as I jumped high and shot some barrels in the distance which Sora had missed. I landed safely somehow, just as Merlin had said. I repeated this a few times. Seeing 10 seconds on the 'clock' and 5 barrels left, I cast Thunder on the last stack in a dark corner and it was all over.

We then returned to the satyr, who said, "You know, you ain't bad, kids." as he gave Sora a small scroll (probably the Thunder spell as I found out later as he battled).

"Looks like I'm headed for the games.", Sora said as he grinned.

As I replied, "I'm not so sure about that."

The satyr than said to me, "You got that right. You aren't headed for the games."

When Sora demanded why not, he said, "Two words; you guys ain't heroes."

Yoris then said, "Wait a sec. That's FOUR words!"

"Come on!", Sora pleaded to the satyr. But he stuck to his word and we then left the entrance with heavy hearts.

Just then, a voice from behind said, "Rather a stubborn old goat, wouldn't you say?"

As we turned around and recognized the Greek god of the Underworld, Donald asked who he was (perhaps he never learned this section of mythology).

Contrary to what he looked like, he acted cool as he said, "Whoa, hold on there, fuzz boy. Let me guess. You want to enter the games, right."

He then walked towards us and said, "Well, then, hey, get a load of this." and in his hand came out 2 cards. He gave one to Sora, and the other to me. "It's all yours. Good luck. I'm pulling for you guys." We returned to the satyr and he readily admitted us in once he saw the cards.

Part III. The Tournament

During Sora's turn in battle, Yoris then pulled out from my bag what he called a "Training Scanner" and as Sora and Co. prepared to fight their foes, which happened to be a set of Heartless, he pressed a button and, in the device's screen, pics of the foes appeared.

Gregorio said, "It's for the training program in our Gummi Ship's training room." Soon, it was our turn, and we battled the same opponents Sora and Co. fought with ease. After the fight, I saw 2 familiar faces from Final Fantasy 7 pass by; Cloud and Barret.

Soon, we then finished the preceding matches easily, and Yoris always recorded them beforehand with the "Training Scanner". Soon, before Sora's Co. can have a chance to battle us, they have to go against Cloud, and likewise, we have to deal with Barret.

At the start of our battle with Barret (we were at the arena and were informed only to stay in one half of it as the other half is where Sora and Co. go for Cloud), he started (quite unexpectedly) with two single shots from his "gatling arm" which applied the "Stop" status on Gregorio and Yoris. Then, he aimed at me and started blasting away. I blocked them of course but I was slowly being pushed by the force of the shots into the 'half barrier' (where I would be disqualified), so I moved 'against the current' towards Barret. Just when I was close enough to do a clear shot on him, he stopped his barrage of bullets (which made me tumble down since his bullets no longer counteract my push), then 'switched' his "gatling arm" into a "saw arm". Just as he was about to strike, a fireball struck him at the side, and he turned to see who shot the fireball (I did so too). It turned out to be Yoris who was out of the "Stop" status and when I looked the other way, I saw Gregorio (out of "Stop" too), rush towards Barret and strike him with his javelin (Note: Even if anyone here is hit by any 'piercing' weapon, they don't actually pierce the target; they only knock them back instead as if they were a punch). Gregorio then followed up with a spin of his weapon hitting Barret again and again. Seeing my chance, I then shot away at him and it was all over (When I looked at the other side, I saw Sora and Co. were done with Cloud as well).

Just then, a black and fierce giant three-headed dog (this, I am sure of, is Cerberus) entered the fray and just before it managed to attack anyone, Hercules (I assumed) arrived and held him off as the called to the satyr (who was at the audience seats), "Phil, get them out of here!".

Part IV. Match's End

Phil and Sora's Co. got out of the arena as our Co. (Gregorio, Yoris, and I) picked up Barret (Man, was he heavy!) and did so too. Just then, as we put down Barret, Sora's Co. ran out and we did too as Hercules ran inside carrying Cloud (In all the mayhem, we forgot about him, and even if we didn't, we were busy carrying Barret, who was heavy enough for the three of us to go for him). Phil then called out, "Guys, I got two words of advice for you: Attack!" Despite the situation, Yoris managed to shout out, "HEY PHIL! THAT'S ONE WORD. LEARN YOUR NUMBERS!!"

Just then, (I seem to have a habit of saying this) Cerberus caught him, Gregorio, Donald, and Goofy by the jaws (the center head had Sora's companions), then tossed them off to the other side of the arena and KO'd them (I saw it by the stars over their heads), leaving me and Sora to deal with the vile beast. It started by shooting meteors out of its mouths which flew to the two of us. I held up my shield to block and Sora, to my surprise, hid behind me as the meteors hit my shield (I expected him to try and deflect them). After that, as I held up my shield over my head to attempt a shot, Sora jumped on it and jumped again (probably so I wouldn't have to keep balancing him) for one of the heads, which I prevented it from biting by doing a charge blast at it then I cast Cure on myself (or at the shield, at least since that serves as the majority of my health, so to speak). Just then, Cerberus lifted its front paws (Sora desperately clinging by the ears) and just before it slammed them to the ground, I jumped up and landed on another head (to be specific, the one on Sora's right) and shot away at its head. A few minutes later, Cerberus fell to the ground defeated.

The two of us then awoke our companions (who seemed to lose their KO'd Status after the battle, and indeed, and all proceeding boss battles), and we all entered the entrance where Phil started a speech which I didn't pay attention to except for the last part, "Thus, I hereby dub thee junior heroes and confer upon thee full rights and priveleges to participate in the games. Further–"

Donald interrupted, "Hey! What do you mean 'junior heroes'?"

"You rookies still don't understand what it takes to be a true hero."

Gregorio asked, "So what does it take?"

Hercules answered, "Well, that's just something you'll have to find out for yourselves. Just the way that I did."

Sora then said, "No problem. We'll start by proving ourselves in the games."

Phil however, said, "There ain't gonna be any games for a while. Gotta clean up the mess from the last battle first."

I then said to Sora, "As if tournaments can start one after another. We'll have to return at a later time."

Part V. Conversation

And we left the Coliseum and when we were at the steps, we saw Cloud and Barret sitting down there.

"You guys okay?", Sora asked.

They said they were. After they said that they (or at least Cloud did as Barret was 'tagging along' since he doesn't know where the 'others' are or what else to do.) made a deal with Hades (the one who gave us the passes).

"So why did you go along with him anyway?", asked Sora.

"I'm looking for someone. And Hades promised to help.", replied Cloud.

"How about you?", I asked Barret.

"I wanted to make sure Cloud gets what he asked. He tried using his dark powers, but it backfired, as I had witnessed while battling you."

"I fell into darkness, and I couldn't find the light.", Cloud continued.

Sora then said that he was looking for his light too. Cloud and Barret then got up, and began to leave. As Barret passed me, he gave me a small green sphere and a munny bag saying, "Accept this as a token of my gratitude." (I did not get to see what Cloud gave to Sora since Barret blocked my view.)

Sora then said to Cloud, "How about a rematch sometime? Fair and square. No dark powers involved."

But Cloud said, "I think I'll pass." When they left, I inspected the green sphere, then it disappeared as I learned some words for the spell Esuna (as it was inscribed in the sphere). We then parted ways from Sora and Co. and returned to the Gummi Ship (and took off our Greek helmets).

–The scene between Hades and Maleficent plays though a Crescent Unit stands beside Maleficent–

We returned to Traverse Town for supplies (Potions, Ethers, that sort of thing.), then we set off again to follow Sora's Gummi Ship. As it came to another world, Yoris handed me over a gas mask(?) and Yoris put on his as Gregorio did too (the color scheme was the same as before). As I put on mine, our Gummi Ship collided with Sora's, as Gregorio was managing the Teleporter, and we were abruptly teleported down and when I woke up (since I banged my head on something), instead of seeing Gregorio and Yoris with me, it was Donald and Goofy (my 2 companions are probably with Sora) and that we were in a jungle, judging by the looks of it.


	8. Chapter 7: Deep Jungle

Part I. Treehouse  
(Gregorio and Yoris tell me this once I encounter them and Sora.)

Due to the collision of our Gummi Ships, Sora, Yoris, and Gregorio fell through the roof of a treehouse and landed on the floor inside. Sora rubbed his head due to the crash landing. When he called out for Donald and Goofy, he noticed 2 'guys with weird masks' (you know who they are, of course), then a leopard (as I described to them later) jumped in and Sora prepared for battle. At the end however, Sora was knocked back at the wall, waking up his companions (Gregorio and Yoris), who immediately took over, but they were knocked back as well. Just before the leopard was able to pounce on them, a 'wild man' came in and intervened. The leopard immediately fled afterward through a window.

The wild man then said to the three of them, "Sabor, danger." (He must have been referring to the leopard, as I inferred from what my friends said later).

They thanked him, then he repeated what they said.

When Sora asked him what this place is, he said, "This place, this place."

Yoris asked, "Where did the others go? Look, we got separated from our friends. Have you seen them?"

When the wild man said nothing, Gregorio repeated what Yoris said, then the wild man said "Friends!".

Sora then said, "Right, my friends." Yoris, Gregorio, and he, were about to describe me, Donald, and Goofy, but then Sora changed it to Riku and Kairi and my friends remained silent as to not give away their identities to Sora.

_flashback_

_"I was wondering.", I told Gregorio and Yoris. "Why shouldn't we let Sora know who we are?"_

_"Come on. And spoil the fun?", Yoris replied._

_"What's fun with this?"_

_"We're not telling you.", Gregorio said as he passed by and bumped his head on a low pipe.  
_

_end of flashback  
_

When the wild man said, "Look for Riku, friends?", Sora nodded.

As the wild man said, "Kairi, friends?" the three saw Kairi, who was way behind the 'wild man'.

As she (what again?) walked away, the wild man said, "Friends here."

When Yoris said "Really?!", the wild man said some gibberish (which I found out to be gorilla language as Yoris 'mimicked' it out for me later, though I did not know what he said exactly).

Sora and his 'immediate company' did not understand, of course, but they asked him to show them.

The wild man, 'introduced' himself (judging by the gestures Gregorio 'mimicked' to me later) as Tarzan and the three did the same.

The all got out and descended the treehouse via 'tree surfing' which, somehow, they were able to do well and reached a campsite (judging by the tents). They then entered one of the tents.

Part II. Campsite

Meanwhile, I was with Donald and Goofy, sitting on a mossy rock.

While Goofy pondered on where Sora was, Donald gruffly said, "Aw, who needs him? We can find the king without him."

I then said, "Why the harsh words?", as he reached for his wand, but then, he saw a gorilla and both screamed as the gorilla fled, dropping 2 pieces of something behind.

Just then, a hunter in his 50's holding a double-barrel shotgun appeared and asked us to follow him. Somewhat fearful for our lives, we did (but just after picking up the pieces, Goofy got one and I, the other).

(Back to Tarzan)

As the three entered, Tarzan then called out, "Jane!", and a young woman arrived from inside the tent to see him (and, of course, Sora, Gregorio, and Yoris).

She then greeted him and asked who his companions were.

When Sora and my Co.(Gregorio and Yoris) were about to speak, she commented that they spoke English (which they did and, apparently, I do too) and inferred that they were related to Tarzan (which was not necessarily true). She then asked if they were here to study the gorillas. A voice from outside (turns out to be the hunter) replied it was doubtful as he escorted Donald, Goofy, and me in. Goofy and Donald then rushed to Sora as I did the same to Yoris and Gregorio.

The hunter continued, "A circus of clowns; not much use for hunting gorillas."

Jane called back, "Mr. Clayton, we're studying them, not hunting them. This is research."

She then turned back to us and said, "Well, the more the merrier."

Goofy and I then showed our respective companies the blocks we obtained. Jane then suddenly gasped and said that she lost the slides and asked us to look for them. The six of us then searched and after a minute (since they were easy to find and that there were six of us), we found them all, and Jane did the rest. After watching the projector which revealed what the slides showed.

Sora then asked to Tarzan, "Where are my friends, Riku and Kairi?" When Tarzan shook his head in the form of a no, Sora almost 'blew a fuse' which he wasn't able to do since Clayton, the hunter said as he entered, "That leaves just one place. Young man, (probably Tarzan, since the we were teens, except for Donald, and Goofy, of course) we've been in this jungle for some time now. But we have yet to encounter these friends of yours. I'd wager they're with the gorillas. But Tarzan refuses to take us to them."

Jane was quite outraged and said, "Really, Mr Clayton. Tarzan wouldn't hide–"

Clayton interrupted, "Then take us there! Take us to the gorillas. Go-ril-las."

Tarzan then looked at us, then nodded his head.

When Jane wanted him to confirm his decision, he said, "Tarzan go see Kerchak."

When Sora's Co. and ours said, "Kerchak?", Clayton volunteered to go along as an escort.

"After all," he said, "the jungle is a dangerous place."

Part III. Seeking The Gorillas

Just when we got outside the tent, leaving Jane at the camp, we encountered Sabor. [Strangely, in battles where my co. allies with Sora's a strange rule limits the battle party to 6 (Sora, myself, and any four of our company, and may or may not include world-specific friends), in this case, only Donald is 'out'].

A minute later, Sabor fled once more. As we crossed the jungle, we then met the gorillas, whom Tarzan 'spoke' to. They however, despite Tarzan's pleas, judging by his actions, left him in a huff. We then went to the treehouse,and investigated around. Just then, I saw Clayton sniping at something inside, however, before he could pull the trigger, Donald came running to him and yelled out at him, setting off the shot (I was somewhere opposite Donald's whereabouts).

We all then approached the two and as Yoris asked Donald what the 'big idea' was, we saw a gorilla's silhouette at the balcony above. When Tarzan called out to it, it left. Clayton then said that he was trying to save the gorilla from a snake, but we all had doubts.

As we returned to the camp, (and after another battle with Sabor), Jane scolded Clayton on his actions after we returned and reported what happened. When Clayton repeated what he had said, she told him never to approach the gorillas ever again.

He tried to appeal to us once more, but we stuck to our disapproval (though he could not see my Co's faces, our eyes gave away our expressions), especially Tarzan. He then left the tent, muttering to himself. A few seconds later, we heard a gunshot.

Part IV. Rescue Operation

As we got out (Jane still inside the tent) we saw Heartless simians surrounding a gorilla. We then rescued it and then did so with another as well. Just then, we saw a "White Mushroom". Sora and I blocked off our friends, then played its little charade since it did not wish to attack us (I was confident that Heartless are unable to plot since it did no offensive move on us at all.) After its game, it warped away, leaving 'restoratives' which we picked up.

As we came to where Sora's Co. (minus Sora) and I landed and found a screw, Sabor appeared once more and battled us. In the end, it finally fell.

When we returned to the camp (and busted the simian Heartless, named the Powerwild and the Bouncywild), Jane was missing.

Tarzan then ran off for the treehouse (as was discovered later) and we followed him. We then saw a big black fruit, which did not seem to give out anything positive. Tarzan the ran for the fruit to attack it and we did the same, busting Heartless as we went. After opening the fruit, it revealed that Jane and the gorilla Donald, Goofy, and I saw when we first entered this world.

As we escorted them back to camp, Jane said that Clayton was behind this. We then headed for a bamboo thicket, Tarzan leading, and we saw Clayton cornering the gorillas with his Heartless. When we called out to him, Tarzan said it wasn't him. As I told them I'll take care of him, I called out my gun and shield (Mysteriously, Sora never noted this continuity with his companions and neither did Donald or Goofy).

While the others took care of the Heartless, Clayton started with a shot, which I shielded. As I returned fire, he ran around, then healed himself with a Potion. He then shot again, and I blocked again and we played this sequence for some time. Just then, he rushed towards me and bonked me on the head with his rifle and I fell down. Just before he could shoot again, Tarzan swung over and kicked him away and delivered a powerful blow. Just then, seeing all his 'grunts' were gone, he then summoned a large chameleon Heartless called the Stealth Sneak (which did not resemble a Heartless in any way; just looking like an ordinary chameleon, albeit a big one), and severely wounded Tarzan, though he did not (and will not) die from it.

He then mounted the Heartless and the rest of us battled him. As Donald, Goofy, Gregorio, and Yoris handles the Stealth Sneak, and managed to 'dismount' Clayton, Sora and I took care of him. With Keyblade and DirLuxGun united, we defeated him after a minute or 2, then we saw the Stealth Sneak got defeated as well which fell on Clayton as it staggered. The strange thing was that when it vanished, Clayton did too.

Part V. Heart

We then returned to Jane and the gorilla she was with, then we saw the gorillas come to us. One of them (probably Kerchak whom Tarzan mentioned), grabbed Sora, then tossed him into the air, but not directly above him as we found out as we followed him (quite abruptly, except for Tarzan, who climbed up since we landed on a cliffside with a cave) and said, "Tarzan, home."

When we entered the cave, and ended up in front of a glowing light, Sora said, "This is your home? But that means…"

Then he noticed that the waterfalls we saw just outside the cave echoed all the way here. "Friends there. See friends.", Tarzan continued.

Jane now understood the gibberish Tarzan was saying and said it meant 'Heart'.

"Friends in our hearts…" Tarzan continued, "Friends, same heart. Clayton, lose heart. No heart, no see friends. No heart, no friends."

Just then, the light revealed to be butterflies and as they fluttered away, a Keyhole appeared. Sora then aimed his Keyblade at it, and a beam shot out. We then heard a 'lock' and it vanished.

A gummi (one of the blocks I got) then fell down to our feet. Donald said, "A gummi! But it's sure not the king's."

Just then, the gorilla Jane was with nudged Donald and when Jane teasingly said that someone has a new admirer, Donald backed away saying Daisy would kill him (and I knew who this Daisy was).

We then left the cave, said goodbye, then teleported back to our respective Gummi Ships (not in front of Tarzan and the others, of course) and I took off the gas mask. As Gregorio and Yoris took off theirs and put back on their beanis, they set course for Traverse Town, and we saw Sora's Gummi Ship head there too.


	9. Chapter 8: Windelle Appears

Part I. New Powers

Once we arrived at Traverse Town, gas masks removed, an envelope (snail-mail size) flew to us and when it opened a 3-D arrow appeared and from the envelope Irvine's voice called out, "Hey there, guys. If you received this message then good. Follow the arrow to find me. I want to discuss some things with you."

The arrow then pointed to a certain direction and we followed it. When the arrow turned at certain points, we turned to its direction. Eventually we ended up at a manhole and when the arrow pointed downwards, we shrugged our shoulders, then, after removing the 'cover', descended, replacing the 'cover' afterward.

After reaching the bottom, we were at the sewers (obviously). As we continued to follow the arrow (thankfully, it did not require us to cross the water since it led us to bridges at certain points), we eventually ended up at a chamber and, along with some targets, there was Irvine.

"Hey there, guys. You're just in time for some target practice. Let's get started."

After half an hour of target practice (the targets mysteriously reappeared after being completely busted), I showed Irvine the gummi block we got from the Deep Jungle. When he inspected it for a minute or two, then he suggested I show it to Quistis.

He then gave us a small wooden slab with a bear's pawprint engraved in it, told us to show it to Merlin, then showed us a teleporter. When we entered it, we were suddenly at the SeeD Remnants HQ (judging by what I saw of it as I went outside after my rest from my showdown with Irvine when I first met him).

As we wandered about, we eventually saw Quistis in the living room sitting on the sofa, setting a jug of water and some plastic cups (not the party-type disposable sort). As we sat down on the sofa with her (and had a few drinks), I showed her the gummi block.

She told us it was a Navi-G (a.k.a. navigation gummi) which would enable us to travel to even more worlds. She then gave us a manual (for installing the Navi-G) and a chest (to deliver to Merlin). After we said goodbye to her, we headed for Merlin's house (and passed Zell along the way, who was possibly running another errand; who knows who he's running those errande for).

When we entered it, Merlin was waiting and when he noticed the chest I was carrying he said to me, "You seem to have a bit of a problem remembering spells, eh?" When I nodded, he said, "I better do something to solve that." then after I gave the chest to him (which he motioned me to do), he blew a certain powder at me and when I sneezed, 8 spheres, shaped like the one Barret gave me back at Olympus Coliseum, appeared at the chest.

When I looked closely, I saw that the spheres had symbols. Five green spheres have a flame (Fire), a bolt (Thunder), a crystal (Blizzard), a leaf (Cure), a twig (probably Esuna) respectively. Three yellow ones had a boomerang, another boomerang but with a shield, and a cloud. When I asked Merlin what those three were, he answered, "Those are your Abilities, while the green ones are your Spells. Those abilities are called (in the order I observed them) Boomer Blast, Shield Boomer, and Sky Dropper. You'll find out how to do them once you equip them." and as he said that, two bracers with three slots each (for the spheres probably, which I will call Materia since I could not think of another name for them) appeared on both of my arms.

"Now that problem's solved, you have anything else for me?", Merlin asked. I then took out the wooden slab and after he inspected it he then opened a mini-carriage on a shelf, then the Fairy Godmother appeared.(Those who watched Disney's Cinderella or played Kingdom Hearts would know her). She then got the slab, waved her wand at it, then the slab turned into a red Materia with a symbol resembling a grey bear whom I (mentally) identified as Baloo from "The Jungle Book".

"When you summon him in battle," the Fairy Godmother said just before she returned to the mini-carriage, "He will do a mighty roar sending foes flying and dealing damage to them." Just before we said goodbye to Merlin, he gave us 2 green Materia called Silence (a speech balloon with 3 dots) and Poison (cobra). After we left his house (and stowed the chest in my pack), we strolled back to the SeeD Remnants HQ.

Part II. Windelle

As we passed the same area where Gregorio, Yoris, and I fought the Red Armor, several Heartless appeared. Just before any one of us could act, they were busted by a couple of silver beams (mine shoots white) and when we looked for the source, it was Windelle holding a silver variant of my gun which he called the GunDeLuna.

Windelle then said, "There you are. What's going on?"

"Windelle!" we all cried out and started poking him around. He then told us to 'cut it out' and that he was not an illusion.

When I asked him if he saw Florina, he asked if I did.

When neither of us answered, he replied, "Don't worry. I'm sure she escaped the islands as well."

I remarked, "Don't worry about that. I was last with her at the island's last moments."

"We're out at last. Hey, she may be looking for us this minute." (At this point, a Shadow Heartless appeared and Yoris noted me about this) "We'll all be together soon. Worry not. Just leave everything to me. I know this–" He was interrupted by a shot behind him and saw me with my DirLuxGun.

As I said to him, "Leave it to who?", Gregorio and Yoris called out their weapons too.

"Rael, what did you–"

"We've been looking for you and Florina too. We've visited so many places and worlds, doing just that. We also saw Sora too adventuring like us."

"Really? Well, what do you know. I never would've guessed."

Suddenly, my DirLuxGun flew to Windelle and after he toyed with it and his own gun, dodging my efforts to retrieve it all the while, he returned it to me.

Yoris then said, "Okay, so, you're coming with us, right?"

"We've got this awesome rocket. Wait 'til you see it", Gregorio added.

"Thanks, but I got my own Gummi Ship. Don't ask how I got it, but for sure I did not kill or trick anyone for this.", Windelle replied.

"So, you're not coming with us?", I asked.

"Nope. Besides, It'd be better if we split up. We'll find Florina faster that way."

He then walked away and as he did, Gregorio 'shot' a Tracker at him. When we opened the Tracker console (I call it the Finder) however, he was no longer in range (The device detects those with Trackers within a world; in this case, only those in Traverse Town), but we saw our headshots in the screen however (Gregorio shot Trackers at me, Yoris, and himself as a precaution after the Gummi Ship collision incident).

Seeing that he was gone, we continued to the SeeD Remnants HQ. As we entered the living room, all the four members were there and they asked if we got the time to hear a story. When we nodded, they told us one.

Part III. SeeD

Note: This is not in my point of view, but in what the SeeD Remnants told me.

A year ago, they were SeeDs (a mercenary force) of Balamb Garden, one of three educational institutions in their world. Irvine says that he was, however, from another of these "Gardens" before being part of the team and that he wasn't its leader, to begin with. It didn't even start with just the four of them.

Back then, a Gunblade ("A very difficult-to-wield weapon.", Zell comments."Heck, the only 'gun' component is just a trigger which vibrates the blade to land a strong hit, making it, all the more, harder to master.") specialist named Squall Leonhart was the 'born leader' of their team ("Though he was at first a 'lone wolf'.", Rinoa added).

There was also a young and frisky Nunchaku ("Though I have to say hers is quite big compared to most." Quistis remarked) specialist named Selphie Tilmitt (Irvine started to sob at this part). The six of them were a great team and were known by all as the ones who defeated Ultimecia 3 years earlier, an evil Sorceress from the future determined to rule their world.

They had lived in a time of peace since then. That is until the Heartless came, who came out of nowhere. They were led by an evil witch who goes by the name Maleficent, leader of a "Hellfire Club", and a couple of Eastern-style Warriors called the Wutai Association.

Despite their best efforts, SeeD, the Galbadian Army (whose Garden is from the same one Irvine was from), and even all the monsters of their world failed to stop the threat immediately. Eventually, the last stand was at Balamb Garden itself while it was mobile, trying to find, in vain, a safe haven to regroup.

During the battle, the six of them were cut off from their allies and surrounded by Heartless. Even as the six of them fought with all their might, one of them eventually tired out, and that was Selphie ("Despite her energetic status at the beginning of the battle.", Irvine said, still with tears on his face). The Heartless took advantage of this and struck her down. But unlike the rest of their allies, who turned into Heartless themselves ("Whether it was a good thing or a bad thing, we don't know for sure.", Rinoa said.) a white light shone down on her, her body disappeared, leaving a white orb which then shot into space.

-The orb probably landed on Destiny Islands and was probably reincarnated as the Selphie the residents there, including Sora, Riku, Kairi, and his friends know-

Irvine was shedding tears as he called out her name while it all happened; the rest were too busy fighting to notice. Just after, a Large Body Heartless crashed between Squall and his teammates. Just then, even as the four were still able to see Squall and vice-versa, a dark portal appeared behind him and them. Just then, Balamb Garden crashed somewhere and they fell into the dark portals and lost consciousness.

-Squall probably bumped his head as he landed from his fall and was somehow implanted a false memory he, Yuffie, Aerith, and Cid are sharing-

As the four awoke and reoriented themselves, they had ended up in Traverse Town. They then wandered about and eventually sat up their HQ. When Quistis, Zell, and Rinoa noticed that Selphie wasn't with them (they had been too busy battling), Irvine then told them of her tragic fate.

Sorrowfully accepting the fact, they then lived their lives here and as Heartless arrived, they fought them off to prevent Traverse Town from suffering the same fate as their own world did. Eventually, they met us and that's where their story ends.

Part IV. First Encounter

Note: Back to me now.

After we listened to their story, we then said farewell to them, adding that we should continue saving worlds. Once we left the HQ, we were about to teleport back to the Gummi Ship until 2 guys appeared in front of us.

"Greetings. We are Jia and Yi", one of them said.

"Members of the Wutai Association.", the other one said.

Jia bonked on Yi's head. "Fool! They probably know about us already."

"Sorry, I thought those SeeD Remnants may have forgotten about us."

"Idiot! They'll never forget what we had done to their world because we are allies of the Hellfire Club."

"Now you're the idiot! Master Xin and Maleficent will have our heads for sure."

"There you go again! You told them about our leaders!"

"No need to worry about that since your butts will be kicked by us.", Yoris answered. Before they could act, I casted Silence and Poison on them (I had them equipped since I wanted to try them out.) and they were quickly weakened. Gregorio and Yoris then rushed for them as I turned around since though I was able to fight, I still could not stand the sight of killing (the showdown with Irvine back when I was recently out of Destiny Islands was a truly-forced-upon situation and besides, I did not want to kill him and perhaps he didn't either).

When I turned around, Jia and Yi's bodies faded into darkness. I remarked, "I doubt the other members are as incompetent as these two were. Let's get back to the ship fast." Gregorio then teleported us back to the Gummi Ship and installed the the Navi-G using the instructions as Yoris navigated to Olympus Coliseum.

"A tournament is already taking place and Sora is there too.", he told me all the while.

Once the Navi-G was successfully installed and once we arrived, we put on our 'masks' (in this case, our Greek helmets), then teleported down. A half hour later, we were back at the Gummi Ship with our rewards. While Gregorio and Yoris got enhancements for their weapons, I got a Gravity (half a purple orb), an Aero (gust), and a Regen (tree) Materia.

Yoris then followed Sora's Gummi Ship as it went for another world. As both our ships approached it, Gregorio then pulled out turbans and handkerchiefs from the Gummi Ship's wardrobe and we put them on (hankies cover the nose and mouth) (after removing the helmets, of course). We then teleported down to the world below.


	10. Chapter 9: Agrabah

Part I. Disturbance

Once we were at Agrabah (judging by the signs, which were, I don t know how to say it, understandable to me), we wandered about the streets, which were empty except for a Heartless or two, which we eliminated.

Eventually we ran into a shop whose peddler was cowering behind. When we looked over to see that he was pointing at a certain direction and when we looked where he was pointing at, we saw a band of Bandit Heartless (KH players would know this) and another Wutai Associate named Bing (when he said, "Heartless, finish off those travelers for I am Bing, the Teleporter") coming at us.

As soon as we busted the lot (and Bing teleported away, just like he said), the peddler came out of hiding and opened shop for us which provided Potions, Ethers, Elixirs, and the like. In return (and in hopes to spread the paopu), I offered half a dozen paopus and some munny (which is accepted in Agrabah, to my surprise). After purchasing a couple of items, we headed out to the desert since there was no one else in this place except sightings of Bing time and again.

Eventually, we reached the desert and just before I could walk further, Yoris pulled me back, pointing that the sand will make me sink in. Gregorio then pulled out my scooter from the bag, pushed a few buttons on the handlebars, then it changed into a mobile platform and had a wireless joystick for navigation once I got on and tried it out. As Gregorio and Yoris followed, we cruised along the sands, then we suddenly saw Sora s Co. on a flying carpet headed for (as we turned to look) a man sinking into the sands and Bandits surrounding him.

The six of us arrived and busted the Bandits. However, more appeared and before any of us are able to resume fighting, the guy we were rescuing pulled out a lamp (not those usual lamps for lighting) and said, "Genie, get rid of these guys!" as he rubbed it.

Blue smoke billowed out of the lamp s spout and out came a blue genie. "Wish Number One, coming right up!" , he said as he snapped his fingers, and the wish was granted; the Bandits disappeared.

We then helped out the man, then we both cruised off on our respective flying machines (our rescuee, whose name was Alladin rode on Carpet, Sora s transport) to a safe area.

Part II. Genie of The Lamp

As Sora introduced himself, Donald and Goofy (Yoris, Gregorio, and I stayed anonymous by scouting around for any enemies), he asked Alladin what he was doing here.

He replied, Same old stuff. Hunting legendary treasure. Just paid a visit to the Cave of Wonders. I found that magic carpet, (As he pointed to Carpet; turns out Sora s Co just encountered the carpet and it gave them a ride to assist Alladin) and this lamp (referring to the one he rubbed to summon Genie). Legend has it that whoever holds the lamp can summon the

Genie (who did not enter his lamp yet) cut him off saying, Please, kid, leave the intros to a professional. The one and only GENIE OF THE LAMP! Rub-a-dub-dub the lamp and have your dearest wishes granted. He then flew to Alladin s back saying that he is Today s Winner as confetti fell down and as Genie shook hands with Alladin.

Any wish? , Yoris asked.

Patience, friend! , Genie told him.

Any three (made triplets of himself) wishes! A one wish (Poof away), a two wish (Poof away), a three wish, Then I make like a banana and split!(Poof away) (I giggled at his joke of banana split )

His voice continued, Our lucky winner made his first wish he then flew next to me and Sora whispering, and let me tell you what a doozy that wish was ( Maybe he wanted to see how powerful you are, Genie! I whispered back).

He then flew back-to-back with a double saying, so he has two left. (Double poof away) So, master, (appearing again with his wispy lower half as a microphone) what ll you have for Wish Number Two?" The whole area then dimmed and a spotlight fell on Alladin.

Hmm, how about making me a fabulously wealthy prince?

Oooh! Money! Royalty! Fame! Why did I not think of that? Okay, you asked for it! A hundred servants and a hundred camels loaded with gold! Just say the word and I ll deliver it in 30 minutes or less, or your meal s free. (I giggled again.) (Genie then flew next to Alladin) Hey, I ll even throw in a cappuccino! (I really laughed, saying, You re one fun guy! )

No thanks!

Okay.

I think I ll put that on hold until we reach Agrabah.

Uhh, why a prince? , Goofy asked.

You see, there s this girl in Agrabah named Jasmine. But she s a princess, and I m Aw, she could never fall for a guy like me.

Oh, Princess? , Donald pondered.

Jasmine? , Goofy pondered too.

Oh, that s right! , Sora concluded. She s in trouble, Alladin!

What? Well, c mon, let s get going! And we did.

As we all navigated above the hot sands, (mysteriously, I wasn t sweating in the heat) Genie was flying like a recently freed bird saying, Ah, fresh air! The great outdoors!

I guess you don t get out much, huh? , Sora asked.

Comes with the job. Phenomenal cosmic powers. Itty-bitty living space. It s always three wishes, then back to my portable, prison. I m lucky to see the light of day every century or two

Say, Genie, what if I use my last wish to free you from the lamp? What do you think? , Alladin said.

Say, Alladin, why not wish for three more wishes with your last wish? How about that? , I said then winked at him.

To Alladin, Genie said, You d do that?

Genie, it s a promise. After we help Jasmine.

Towards me, Genie said, As for the idea of wishing for more wishes, that s a clever idea. But it s not possible.

Why not, Genie? , Gregorio said.

You see, There are three things a genie can NEVER grant.

What s that? asked Yoris.

One, you can never wish for someone alive to be dead, or vice-versa. Two, you can never make any wish that will directly manipulate emotions, especially love. That is, you cannot wish for someone to fall in love with you, but to make something you think will charm her, I can grant that. And three, as I said, only THREE wishes at a time, no more, and definitely no less.

Just then, Donald said that we have arrived at the gates.

Part III. Pursuit

We then got off our vehicles and I returned my scooter to its original form and stowed it away (Carpet stayed behind in case we need him again) but as we tried to open the gates, it was boarded up.

Just then, Sora found some boxes and we climbed up on them. After getting over the wall, (and landing on a rooftop), we headed for the palace (which was very easy to see), crossing the rooftops as we went (since there were many Heartless below), sometimes jumping across, or crossing wooden awnings (whenever one of us fell, we busted the Heartless in the immediate area, then helped up our friend.).

Eventually, we reached the gate and finally saw the princess (at least by the description Sora said to us) a sinister sorcerer who called himself Jafar, and Bing once more. Jafar said,

Setting your sights a little high, aren t you boy? Back to your hole, street rat. I will not allow you to trouble the princess any more. As Alladin called out Jasmine s name, she apologized to Alladin as Jafar blocked her off.

Alladin the rubbed his lamp, which was hidden at his back (I was behind him at this time), begging Genie to help Jasmine. Just then I saw a red parrot fly towards the lamp from behind and I did a lucky shot at him which took him down, but did not kill him.

From behind Jafar, Genie said as he rose with the princess, One wish left! You re making this really easy you know.

So sorry boy. , Jafar confidently said, I m afraid your second wish has been denied.

I then picked up the parrot, tossed him to Jafar as he staggeringly flew to his master and I said, You were saying?

Jafar then said, Time for the backup plan! Bing, grab the lamp! and Bing did so in the blink of an eye. Before any of us knew it, the lamp was gone from Alladin s back and Bing returned to Jafar, lamp in hand.

Genie apologized to Al (his nickname for Alladin), as he poofed away, dropping Jasmine into a clay pot. The pot then sprouted legs as Bing bid us all farewell, then he disappeared with Jafar while all the surrounding pots sprouted legs as well. Just then, a Pot Centipede came out of nowhere and attacked us.

While our companions (except for Donald, who was out again) took care of the Pot Spiders , Sora and I took turns either distracting the head or attacking the tail and we switched time after time. After the battle, Jasmine was nowhere to be seen (The pot she fell in probably served as a temporary portal). Alladin then said, To the desert! and we all followed him out (the gates were now open).

Soon, we were flying above the desert sands once more on both my hovering platform and Carpet. Suddenly, as we were cruising, a lion s head made out of sand came out of the dunes and started to attack us. We got off our transports, (Donald was left behind keep them in place) and prepared to fight.

As Alladin, Gregorio, and Goofy attacked the Heartless that were coming out of its mouth, and while Sora and I deflected its homing lasers, Yoris and I (I was somehow capable of this double duty) were blasting its eyes. Even at times it breathed fire and harmed the rest of our group, we pushed on and soon enough, its mouth remained open, signaling that it was safe to enter, according to Alladin since this is the entrance to the Cave of Wonders.

Part IV. Jafar s End?

Dodging traps and avoiding chasms, we (including Donald, who brought our transports and was doing well with my hovering platform) eventually found Jafar, Bing, Jasmine, and an evil sorceress all in a room with 3 tables and a stone center. As we went to the center, Sora asked the sorceress if she was Maleficent, who just disappeared.

Jafar, let Jasmine go! , Alladin demanded.

Not a chance. Jafar replied. You see, she s a princess. One of the seven who somehow hold the key to opening 'the door'.

Open , Gregorio wondered.

the door? , Yoris repeated.

But you fools won t live to see what lies beyond it. Bing said. Genie! Crush them!

Despite Alladin s pleas, Genie apologized that he must follow the lamp s holder no matter what (in this case, Bing was the holder). The oncoming battle was definitely difficult (Poor Donald, he s out again) due to Bing s teleportation and Jafar s spells. Genie served a problem too since we didn t want to hurt him and even if we did, we couldn t.

- I leave the whole battle process to your imagination -

After the rumble, Jafar fell to the ground and Bing faded into darkness. Just before Sora can go to the now revealed Keyhole, Jafar rose once more and made a wish to become an all-powerful genie. He then sank to the ground as it did too, revealing a chasm into a battle arena. Sora, Alladin, and I descended into the pit (the others got Jasmine to a safe section of the room), then suddenly, a red genie came out of the surrounding lava and began to engage us in battle.

As Alladin held off Jafar (the red genie), Sora and I chased his parrot about and once either of us caught him, we struck the lamp with all we got. Just then, Jafar tossed a molten rock at us and even as I shielded from it, protecting Sora as well, we were pushed backwards to almost the edge and Sora almost fell of had I not dropped my shield on the parrot and Jafar s lamp (to prevent escape) and pulled Sora back up.

He then lifted my shield picking up the lamp, then ordered Jafar to return to it, which he had no choice but to do so. We then got up and saw our companions unconscious and Jasmine missing. As Alladin searched for her and as I woke up our friends and retrieved Genie s lamp, Sora was locking the Keyhole. Once that was done however, the cave began to show signs of caving in. Acting fast, Sora s Co. hopped on Carpet and our Co. readied the hovering platform and got on too, taking a reluctant Alladin with us who was still looking for Jasmine.

Eventually, we escaped the Cave of Wonders and went to Alladin s home (which he pointed out with a gloomy face).

Once we landed, Genie came out of his lamp saying, Uh, earth to Al. Hello? You still have one wish left. Look, just say the word. Ask me to find Jasmine for you.

After pondering for some time, Alladin said, I I wish for your freedom, Genie.

At those words, energy streamers started to fly around him and once they were gone, Genie s lower half was now a pair of legs, rather being a wisp like before. What s more, the golden bracers on his wrists disappeared (perhaps to signify that he is no longer chained to the lamp).

A deal s a deal, Genie. , Alladin reminded him. Now you can go anywhere you want. You re your own master. But if you can, it d be great if you could go along with them and help Sora find Jasmine.

Genie however, turned away saying, Sorry, Al. I m done taking orders from others. But a favor, now that s entirely different. As he turned his head towards us, he continued, I guess I could give it a try. (Zooming to Al) After all, we re pals, right, Al? ( Genie , Alladin started.) Just leave it to me!

Alladin then smiled, then we all, minus Alladin who will be waiting for Jasmine s return, left the house and strolled along the street.

Uh, Genie? , I whispered to him. To tell you the truth, we aren t really one of Sora s companions (thumbing to Gregorio and Yoris). So I guess you won t be able to help us, right?

I guess so. However, here s something to help you out. Genie said as he gave me a red Materia with a dragon symbol on it (Bahamut). Use him wisely as he takes out a lot of energy in one use. (Wink) However, he does a really big deal of damage to enemies. , Genie continued.

Gregorio, Yoris, and I then teleported back to our Gummi Ship and removed our turbans and hankies afterward. Just then, we saw Sora s Gummi Ship head off back to Traverse Town and we did too only for battle supplies. As we followed Sora s vessel, we suddenly saw a giant whale swimming in space just as well as in water. Despite both our ship s efforts to dodge the whale, it swallowed both our ships, and as a last-minute maneuver, Yoris took out 3 helmets from the closet and stuffed it on our heads before we all lost consciousness. 


	11. Chapter 10: Monstro

Part I. Pinocchio

Jiminy Cricket, chronicler of Soras journey, and in the future, ours too.

When I woke up, I couldn't see a thing because of the helmet. When I turned it around so I am able to see, I saw Gregorio and Yoris wearing what resembles Shin-Ra army masks from Final Fantasy 7. When we got up, we were next to Sora and when we looked around we saw Donald saying, "Knock it off!" while Goofy turned around asking Sora if he was okay.

Sora then asked, "What are you guys doing? Where are we, anyway?" Just then, a jewelry box fell to the ground.

"Hey! A jewelry box.", Yoris shouted out and Sora's Co. then noticed us.

"Hmm. These guys seem familiar. What do you think, Donald?", Sora wondered.

"Yeah. They seem to be in every world with us, just wearing different headgear each time but why?"

"Well. Never mind that. What does it matter? As long as they help us, it's okay right?"

"Uhh, yeah. You got a point. Well where were we again, Goofy?"

"Uh, ya know, I think that big ol' whale Monstro just swallowed us. And for today's weather: expect showers. (Then another jewelry box fell on Goofy but luckily, his shield was over his head) Heavy showers!"

"Hey!", Donald hollered out up above us.

"Who's there?", Sora asked.

A wooden puppet up above us said, "It's me."

"Oh, It's just Pinocchio. Pinocchio?!"

Then, a little bug whom I recognized as Jiminy Cricket (From Disney's Pinocchio) jumped up on Sora's shoulder calling out the puppet's name. As we saw Pinocchio walking away, Jiminy kept on calling out his name. Then, he told all of us to follow him quick, and we did.

After pursuing him through a lot of chambers, (odd that there weren't any gastric juices around the walls and floor) we finally ended the chase as we saw him board a shipwreck. As we went over, we overheard a conversation. Instead of stopping to listen, we walked on to the source, hearing every word as we went.

An elderly voice said, "What have you got there, Pinocchio?"

Pinocchio replied, "With this, we can get out of here Father." ("Father?" Gregorio asked to me. I replied to him, "Creator to a creation is quite the same analogy as father is to son.")

"Really? With this big block? You think so?"

As we reached them, Sora popped up and cut in saying, "It's true. (Pinocchio and the elderly man then looked at us as we popped up too.) So how'd you end up here, Pinocchio?"

As we got up to the deck, the old man said, "Oh, my. So the whale swallowed all of you too? My goodness."

"Yeah, looks like it.", I said.

"My name is Geppetto. I'm Pinocchio's father. When we got separated, I traveled all over, looking for him. Thank goodness we're together again."

"You seem to know Pinocchio quite well.", Yoris commented.

As Geppetto carried the green block that was on the floor (I assume it is a Gummi Block) and carried it to the back behind a cabinet holding a fishbowl (It had a fish, of course) on top of it, he continued, "I hope he was a good boy in my absence. Well, we've all had quite a journey. Right Pinocchio? Pinocchio?" We then noticed that he was missing (again?) We got off the ship and explored the chambers.

Part II. Riku and Windelle

Eventually, we found Pinocchio hiding behind a stone. "What are you doing? Come on, let's go back.", Sora said to him.

Goofy said, "You know, Geppetto's awfully worried about you."

Sora continued, "Pinocchio, stop fooling around! This is no time for games!"

We then headed back until a voice said, "But, Sora, I thought you liked games."

We turned around to see Riku and Windelle (though he was wearing a SOLDIER mask).

"Or are you too cool to play them now that you have the Keyblade?", Riku continued.

Sora said, "Riku! (I say this part with him quite simultaneously, but I said Windelle) Wh-what are you doing here?"

They replied, "Just playing with Pinocchio."

"You know what I mean! What about Kairi? Did you find her?", Sora asked. (I silently said the same thing concerning Florina towards Windelle.)

"Maybe. Catch us and maybe I'll tell you what I know.", Riku replied.

"Come on.", we said as the three ran off. We then pursued them all over Monstro. Eventually we found them but as Pinocchio went on, Riku and Windelle stopped us in our tracks.

"What's the matter with you? What are you thinking? Don't you realize what you are doing", Sora and I said to them.

They replied, "I was about to ask you the same thing, (Windelle didn't say my name but he didn't say Sora's either) Sora. You only seem interested in running around and showing off that Keyblade (Windelle said DirLuxGun) these days. Do you even want to save Kairi (Windelle merely said 'her', referring to Florina)?"

"I do."

The two then ran off and we followed. Soon we saw a giant cage with 2 tentacles (the Parasite Cage) and it was imprisoning Pinocchio.

"You up for this?", Riku and Windelle said.

"No problem. Let's do it!", Sora and I replied as we all got ready for battle. (In this case, Riku and Windelle weren't part of the 6-fighter limit, so it was Sora, me, Donald, Goofy, Gregorio, Yoris, Riku, and Windelle versus Parasite Cage) After an easy battle due to our outnumbering him, a hole opened in front of it and it spat out Pinocchio into the hole.

As Riku and Windelle jumped in, the rest of us followed him, which ended up back at Geppetto's ship, with Geppetto still calling out for his son. Just then, he said "Please! Give me back my son."

We then saw Pinocchio at a platform above being held by Riku and Windelle.

"Sorry, old man.", The two of them said. "We have some unfinished business with this puppet."

"He's no puppet!", Geppetto demanded. "Pinocchio is my little boy!"

"He is unusual. Not many puppets have hearts. We're not sure, but maybe he can help someone who's lost theirs."

"Wait a minute." Sora said. "Are you talking about Kairi?"

"What do you care about her?" as they left. As Sora's Co. went off again, I stood still, shocked by their words. Then, Yoris and Gregorio got my attention, and soon, we were following Sora.

Part III. Betrayal

After crossing numerous chambers, we finally found them with Pinocchio. When we demanded them to let him go, Riku said, "A puppet that lost its heart to the Heartless Maybe it holds the key to helpig Kairi. How about it Sora? Let's join forces to save her."

"We can do it, together, so we'll be able to find our friends faster."

As Sora prepared to fight, I said to Windelle, "You're not making sense. Back at Traverse Town, you did not want to join us since we'll find her faster separately. Now you say we'll find her better together. What's happening to you?"

Then we prepared to fight as well, they both said, "What? You'd rather fight us? Over a puppet that has no heart?"

"Heart or no heart, at least he still has a conscience.", Sora and I said (it's starting to get strange).

"Conscience?"

"You might not hear it, (Jiminy, who was in some other place until called, quite like our weapons, was running for Pinocchio at this time) but right now it's loud and clear. And it's telling us you're on the wrong side!"

"Then you leave us no choice."

Just then, Jiminy reached Pinocchio. When Pinocchio said, "Jiminy… I'm not gonna make it.", his nose grew (indicating he was lying).

"Oh! I guess I'm okay.", he then said as Jiminy jumped for joy. As all of us looked at what was happening, Parasite Cage fell down in front of Riku and Windelle, leaving us to deal with the Heartless.

- I leave the whole battle process to your imagination -

It was a rough fight but soon, it fell, but Riku and Windelle were nowhere to be seen. Just then, we were blacked out.

Part IV. Extra to-do

When we woke up, we were back at our Gummi Ship. When I looked at my hand, I was holding a microchip, and 3 green Materia with a clock (Stop), a pink bow and arrow (Charm), and 3 stars in a circle (Confuse). I also got a Yellow Materia with a shock wave (Aura Wave.) Just then, I saw Gregorio and Yoris at the controls taking the ship to Traverse Town. I only went there to ask about the chip, which the Fairy Godmother turned into a red Materia with the symbol of a robot I remember as XR from 'Buzz Lightyear of Star Command' "He will do a series of blasts all over the place. Best used when surrounded by enemies."

When we returned to the Gummi Ship, we headed for Olympus Coliseum (Sora's Co. were there too), teleported down (with our Greek helmets, of course) then participated in the Pegasus Cup with Sora's Co. At the last match however, when the six of us entered the Coliseum, an opaque barrier reaching the sky separated us from Sora and Co.

"Due to unknown reasons, you will be fighting your bosses separately.", Phil called out. When Yoris, Gregorio, and I got ready for battle, Irvine and Rinoa entered the fray.

"Hey there guys.", Irvine said. "Nice to see you again. Guess this is for real, huh." At the signal of "Fight!" Gregorio and Yoris went straight for Irvine who instantly got busy as I was left with Rinoa.

As a first move, she pulled out a (what?) gunblade (Which resembled the Hyperion of Seifer Almasy in Final Fantasy 8) from its holster on her right as she readied her Blaster Edge (the thing I felt while I thought I was hearing Florina's voice back in bed after I was put to sleep by Irvine's powder) on her left then shot it to her left. As I saw it flying towards me in an arc, I readied my shield to block it, but then, I saw Rinoa rushing towards me with her gunblade. As her Blaster Edge struck my shield, and as she swung her gunblade downward to me, I let go of my shield and took a sidestep as the gunblade landed between me and the shield. Having no time to retrieve it, I held my gun on both hands, then started firing away at Rinoa. Because of that, her Blaster Edge failed to return to her and fell to the ground. Not having any time to retrieve it, she then started attacking me with her gunblade, which I had a hard time dodging since I did not have my shield. Just then, a fireball struck her on the side as I saw Irvine still firing away on my left and on the right, I saw Gregorio and Yoris. As I jumped to them, calling my shield as I went, Rinoa went for her Blaster Edge and Irvine followed her. Then, the three of us performed a Trinity Attack (the item was obtained along with those rewards after Monstro but I did not realize it until now), which consisted of Yoris aiming his bazooka at our opponents, Gregorio placing his javelin across the bazooka, and me placing the shield on the other side of the bazooka with gun at the back aimed at the shield's center. The bazooka then charged and when I pulled the trigger on my DirLuxGun, a ball of fire flew to our opponents (in this battle, Irvine and Rinoa) and the battle was over.

After we helped the two of them up, they said they will be returning to Traverse Town now. When I asked how they got here anyway, the replied that they got their own Gummi Ship. They then left the arena and once the opaque barrier faded away, I saw Sora waving goodbye to 2 familiar figures (Yuffie from Final Fantasy 7 and Squall) who were leaving as well.

Dismissing what I saw as my imagination, we returned to our Gummi Ships, taking a yellow Materia with a yoyo symbol (Yoyo Shot), and 3 green Materia with a blue orb (Barrier), a yellow orb (MBarrier), and a white feather (Dispel) as a reward. We then pursued Sora's ship to another world and, after an analysis from Yoris, we found out that the world was an underwater-type one. Seeing that, Gregorio pulled out 3 scuba suits from the closet, and we put them on (after taking off our helmets, of course). We then teleported down to embark on an underwater adventure.

**Kingdom Bites Remake: Close Combat**

"Uh, Irvine?", I asked him.

"Yes?"

"I was wondering how you became proficient in close combat with that rifle if that was for sniping?"

"Well, you see, back at our world, sometime after the threat of Ultimecia, I noticed that, on their own, my other friends are able to take care of themselves."

"Even Rinoa?"

"Ever since learning the arts of one-handed gunblade combat (Squall's is two-handed) and using it in conjunction with her Blaster Edge, I felt 'helpless'."

"How helpless, I wonder?"

"So helpless that the only way I hoped in surviving a monster situation on my own is to rely on the terrain."

"And most battles are in the open field?"

"Yes."

"Oh. Back to my first question: How did you even learn close combat using the rifle?"

"Sorry, but I couldn't remember anymore."

"It's okay." And as I left him and rejoined my friends, I muttered, "GFs."


	12. Chapter 11: Atlantica

-For some reason, maybe to compensate for my status problem spells, some of the Heartless now do buffs, be it positive or negative, as well.-

Part I. Under The Sea

Once we were under the water, we suddenly were next to a "dolphin (his tail was not that of a fish) merboy", a half-duck half-octopus, and a sea turtle with a head that is not of a turtle. A second later, we realized those were Sora and Co. in aquatic form. Just as we were surprised by their presence, they were too by ours. They started off by trying out their new bodies and we chased them for fun, seeing our scuba suits helped us swim fast (by the way, my bag was left behind but we were able to take along some Potions, Ethers, Remedies, etc.).

Just then, we saw a red-haired mermaid whose tail was green and a purple seashell bra, a pudgy yellow fish with blue linings, and a red crab approach us. Looking behind her, the mermaid said, (Our scuba suits had hydrophones so we were able to hear any conversation underwater) "Come on, Sebastian."

The crab, presumably Sebastian, called out to her, "Ariel, wait! Slow down. Don't leave me behind!" He soon ran into Donald (the half-octopus) and as he swam in the opposite direction, Yoris popped up on his face. In a state of panic, he swam back to Ariel as she told him to relax.

"They don't look like one of them.", she said. "Right, Flounder?" as she turned her head towards her fishy friend.

Flounder replied, "I don't know. There's something weird about them. Especially those three who have human shapes through and through. (referring to Gregorio, Yoris, and me)."

"What do you mean?", Gregorio asked. (Our suits were capable of helping us communicate underwater, too.)

As Ariel swam around Sora and me, she said, "They do seem… a little different. Especially the ones like humans. Where are you from?"

Sora replied, "We're from kind of far away. And we're not really used to these waters." (I saw Goofy and Gregorio staring at Flounder)

I said, "Same for us."

Ariel then said, "Oh, I see. In that case… Sebastian can show you how we swim around here." (Donald and Yoris had their arms folded as they were staring at Sebastian.) But he protested that King Triton would not like this. She told him not to worry as Flounder took over as 'swimming instructor'.

A minute later, Sebastian then told them to switch for the 'self-defense lesson'. Just then, Ariel pointed out to the tunnel where they came from and we saw Sea Neon Heartless coming our way. As they took cover, the six of us summoned our weapons and prepared for battle (Mysteriously, any Fire we cast does not get doused at all and any Thunder does not get conducted which would have shocked everyone, friend or foe, in the immediate vicinity).

After the battle, Ariel, Flounder, and Sebastian came out of hiding and they then took us to Triton's palace.

Part II. King of the Sea

As we swam (actually our scuba suits had hydro-boosters so we were able to catch up with little effort) we saw Screwdivers headed for us but Ariel told us to pay no heed as we were almost at the palace. As we went on, bolts of lightning instantly obliterated them.

As Ariel and I looked back, a deep wrathful, yet fatherly voice said, "That was too close."

As we all approached the mighty and majestic King Triton, he continued, "As long as I have my trident, I will not tolerate those creatures inside this palace."

As Ariel greeted him cheerfully, he calmly returned it. Then, to my surprise, he then said angrily, "When will you listen? It's dangerous out there!"

As Ariel shrugged her arms, he continued, "Strange creatures lurk outside." We (even Sora and Co.) all gasped, then Sebastian introduced him to us and when he asked who we were, Ariel said that we helped them fight off 'those creatures' (the Heartless).

"They don't look familiar, especially those human-like ones in those odd suits.", King Triton said.

"We're from an ocean very far away.", Sora said.

"How about those three? They don't look like sea creatures to me."

"We're from a place above the waters, above even the surface, Your Majesty. Don't say we're lying if you don't think what we say is true because in our place, we have no idea what merpeople are and they don't believe them as real either. It's justifiable.", Gregorio answered without any sign of sarcasm.

"Yup. We came to find the Keyhole.", Goofy said.

"The what?" Triton demanded as if it were a forbidden word.

Ariel asked what it is, but when Goofy tried to tell her what it is, Triton insisted there was no such thing, implying that he DOES know it, or at least what it is. When Ariel protested, he silenced her (not the sort where Silence is casted) and forbade her to leave the palace. She swam away in frustration and we followed, and Triton did not even stop us.

Part III. Ariel's Grotto

Ariel then led us into her grotto, which consisted of a trove of 'human stuff' (at least, in Renaissance times) and we explored it. As Ariel named some of the stuff (albeit incorrectly), I kept having to correct her and when she commented on my knowledge of these stuff, I lied that we were studying humans during our stay.

Then, Ariel took us to a Sunken Ship and asked us to search for a 'Crystal Trident'. As we did, we encountered a shark in the area, which we fended off with relative ease (My shield did not rust at all in Atlantica, which Triton named his kingdom, probably because it was stainless steel; Yoris' bazooka did not rust either). After we found the 'Crystal Trident', Ariel started to take it back to her grotto, 2 guys in scuba suits like ours stopped her and us in our path.

They said, "We are Ding and Wu, the Aquatic Twins. We cannot allow you to take that here. We are not Triton's agents, you can be sure of that…"

"But you are definitely members of the Wutai Association.", Yoris finished.

"Oops, gotta split!" and they vanished in a puff of smoke.

"What was that about?", Sora asked Yoris.

"Forget it, let's move on."

Part IV. Triton's Lecture

We proceeded into Ariel's Grotto and placed the 'Crystal Trident' into a fitting slot. Just then, I saw King Triton swimming towards us saying, "Ariel, you disobeyed me again! I told you not to leave the palace!" As he aimed towards us and shot a bolt of lightning, we all got out of the way (even I did not want to test his might by blocking his Thunder). When we looked at his intended 'target', it turned out to be the 'Crystal Trident', which was gone, without a trace.

When Ariel abruptly swam away in anger, he said to us "Young men, you are not from another ocean. You're from another world. Aren't you?"

When we gasped, he angrily continued, "The you must be the key bearer." pointing to Sora. When Sora asked how he knew, and as I mumbled to myself that I wasn't a key bearer, but rather a 'gun wielder', Triton replied, "You may fool Ariel, but you can't fool me. You don't know your dorsal fin from your tail."

"We're not even trying to fool you, Your Majesty.", Gregorio pleaded. "And besides, there are fish in our world so don't jump to conclusions, even if you are the king."

Ignoring him, he continued, "As the key bearer, you must already know… One must not meddle in affairs of other worlds."

"We're here because the Heartless are here. We wouldn't have come otherwise.", Yoris said.

Ignoring him as well, he proceeded, "You have violated this principle."

"If we aren't allowed to come and stop the Heartless then who will, Your Majesty?", I asked.

Ignoring me too, Triton said, "The key bearer shatters peace and brings ruin."

"And the Heartless bring order? Is that what you're saying? Besides you probably heard the wrong legend. Either that, or all of the other worlds are wrong", Gregorio said.

Still oblivious to his presence, he then said, "I thank you for saving my daughter (Ariel). But there is no room in this ocean for you and your key."

"Uh, Your Majesty. To tell you the truth, we 'divers' aren't companions of Sora but we just merely tag along.", Yoris apologized.

Triton then left us alone in the grotto. "Perhaps you better leave this to us so as not to anger him anymore.", I suggested to Sora, but he refused. Impatient to do something, he, Donald, and Goofy swam off and we followed. (Note: our oxygen tanks seemed to be limitless, so we did not need to hurry back to the Gummi Ship for refueling.)

Part V. Ding, Wu, and Ursula

When we reached King Triton's throne room, which was where Sora and Co. were headed, we saw a nefarious sea witch wielding the Triton's trident and she vanished in a cloud of ink. As we approached them, Triton was weakened and said that the Trident must be retrieved. Just before we were able to get started, Ariel said that she'll join since she was guilty of what happened. As Sebastian and Flounder joined in too, we all set off to find Ursula.

As we searched and ended up at the Sunken Ship, we had to fight the shark once more and as it fled afterward, we finally found Ursula and, with her, Ding and Wu. As she called out her 'poopsies', Flotsam and Jetsam, we prepared for battle. (In this case, poor Ariel was not actually able to help in battle because of our '6-fighter limit')

As her two eels came for us relentlessly, I instantly cast Confuse on them and they fought one another. While Sora and Co. took care of Ursula, I tried casting Confuse as well on Ding and Wu, but they instantly cast Esuna when I was done with one of them. Acting fast, Gregorio and Yoris swam for the two of them and took care of them. Just then, the eels snapped out of confusion and were coming for me but at that same moment, for some unknown reason even to me, a Blue Flotsam and a Blue Jetsam (both Neopets) came out of a white portal and rammed on their eel namesakes. Taking advantage of the situation, I then rushed to Ursula and unleashed a series of blasts. Soon, all our foes except for Ursula, faded into darkness. Vowing revenge, she swam away.

Part VI. Enter the Neopets?

When we checked what was left behind, we found Speed Upgrades for our scuba suits for swimming against currents and, while we were all searching for Ursula, we saw that Sora and Co. were now able to swim against currents too (must be an ability they obtained). While I realized that the Flotsam and Jetsam Neopets were following us, we eventually found the sea witch in the middle of the ocean (since it was dark the whole time, I was in trouble since my DirLuxGun's battery was low).

"You pathetic fools! I rule the seas now!" She then raised her trident, and as she grew in size, she continued, "The sea and all its spoils bow to my power!"

In this battle, I did not participate and Ariel took over (she indeed was able to fight using her swimming capabilities and some vials for tossing.) As I watched my companions do their stuff, Flotsam and Jetsam (which happened to be their names, but I'll call them Flot (Female ) and Jet (Male ) so as not to be confused with Ursula's eels.) swam next to me and conversed with me.

"I was wondering who are those two in scuba suits.", Flot asked.

"Don't you dare act stupid; you know who they are.", Jet said.

"Oh yeah. They are secret agents of Neopia (the world of Neopets)."

"See, you know about them. Specifically, I heard that Squad Meridell has arrived here in this universe."

"As I hear, four were specially sent here to anticipate 'The One' who will fight alongside the Keyblade Master."

"It's still amazing how we got that information and not get caught."

"You know, I wish we will stay here forever. it's so nice in Atlantica."

"Yeah, I wish Koi were here too. After that overhearing we did, I think they are after us now."

"You got that right. There's no turning back."

"I heard all that you said but don't worry.", I told them "I have nothing to gain or lose by telling you off. Maybe I'm 'The One' you two are referring to."

"You got that right!", Flot and Jet said. Just then, Ursula had fallen and the two of them swam away but I knew I would see them again. (and I did; they served as shopkeepers and accepted munny too.) When the trident appeared, we retrieved it and returned to Ariel's Grotto. When Ariel positioned the Trident in a way that it is parallel to the slot where the Crystal Trident once was placed.

The Keyhole then appeared in an intangible panel and when Sora 'locked' it, it was all over. Ariel then swam to Sora and asked what his world was like.

"Oh, about that. Sorry about lying to you."

"It's okay", Ariel replied sweetly. "Besides, if you can travel to other worlds, maybe I can too."

As she swam upwards, she continued, "So many places i want to see… I know I'll get there someday. I'll find a way somehow. I'm sure of it."

Behind us, I heard Sebastian say, "Well, if you find it, do me a favor and leave me out of it."

We then said goodbye, and teleported back to our Gummi Ships. As we took off our scuba suits (and returned any unused and new items in my bag), I noticed that Gregorio and Yoris managed to obtain 3 green Materia with a crossed out eye (Blind), a crossed out foot (Immobilize), and a crossed out hand (Disable), and three more of them consisting of the -ra levels of my basic spells (their symbols were doubled).

Just then, as our Gummi Ship (which was on autopilot) followed Sora's Gummi Ship (our vessel's AI was set to do that), we saw the World Sora was going to was Halloween-type, Yoris quickly went to the closet and took out a Tonberry costume for me (complete with mask, tail, lamp, knife, and all), a Cactuar mascot for Gregorio, and a Goblin suit for Yoris (the three suits mentioned are from the Final Fantasy series). I then put on my bag, then we teleported down the world for a nice Halloween surprise.


	13. Chapter 12: Halloween Town

Part I. Heartless Performers

Once we landed on Halloween Town (which I wanted to call the place and, incidentally, is really the town's name), we were suddenly face to face with a duck-shaped mummy, an anthropomorphic dog zombie, and a young vampire (but not Dracula style) with fake bat wings and a pumpkin mask on the right side of his face (they all had Gothic makeup too). As we screamed in terror, they screamed in terror too as we called out our weapons to fight (I stowed away my lamp and knife in my robe first) (The knife is a toy, so I wasn't inflicted Instant Death).

One second later, after gazing on the boy's hair, I realized this was Sora's Co. in Halloween costumes and, looking at our weapons, Sora's Co recognized us too, not by name, but by reputation (meaning they do not know our names). As we strolled around the town, keeping calm since our masks (though Sora and Co. did not wear any; Yoris had a mask too) hid our expressions, we suddenly saw Search Ghosts in front of us. However, they did not attack us at all (all Heartless usually do once they catch sight of us) but they merely danced (which is something not usually ordered to them by their leaders, were it's usually stand ground, kidnap, escort, etc. if not attack).

As we ignored them as well, holding our weapons just in case, we then heard a loud voice as if from a megaphone saying, "…And now, allow me to introduce the master of terror, the king of nightmares– Jack Skellington."

When we looked we saw a two faced cone-shaped guy in an tuxedo and was indeed using a megaphone. We then saw some Search Ghosts in two lines, facing one another, dispersing properly as we saw from a green portal on the ground, a skeleton man in a black Gothic suit.

"Bravo, Jack Bravo!", the emcee applauded, approaching him. "Those ghosts will be a big hit at this year's Halloween!"

"Thank you! Thank you!" Jack said as he waved to the emcee. "But their movement still needs work. It's not scary enough. I want to strike bone-chilling terror. I'm going to see the doctor." (I wondered why would he ask the doctor for a solution for the performance, unless he also specializes in solving his problem)

As Jack left, the emcee said, "Then I'll go attend to the decorations." As we asked him on what was going on, he summarized the problem we overheard and we realized that he was actually the mayor of this town.

We then followed where Jack went; into the house that was coughing smoke. When we entered, we saw him and a white 'robotic zombie' on a wheelchair discussing things.

"I don't understand. Maybe the guidance system was damaged in the explosion.", Jack said.

"Nonsense", the 'doctor' demanded. "My devices are always perfect."

As Jack searched in a book, he suddenly said, "Oh, I've got it! Why, of course! The Heartless need a heart. (Made no sense to me.) Doctor, do you think we can add a heart to that device?"

"Certainly. A heart's not all that complicated. (How ironic, I thought, an emotional heart ain't simple as Doctor Finklestein thinks. But then, maybe he only needs key components.) Let's get to work."

"To make a heart, first take a container with a lock…" (and the doctor did, which was beating, like a real biological heart)

Then he suddenly said, "We need the key to this thing first!" and when Sora tried to unlock it with his Keyblade, which is what sets it apart from all other swords (which are able to defeat Heartless just as effectively), it didn't work. When I whispered to Sora to try again, he did, and it worked. "My! That was amazing! Uh, and you are…", Jack said to Sora who introduced himself.

"Well done, Sora. I'd like you to be a part of this year's Halloween."

"What's this Heartless doing here?"

"Oh, the Heartless came to town just recently. What's frustrating is I can't get them to dance with me. So the doctor and I are trying to improve the guidance system. He's a genius! Okay, Doctor, let's continue."

"Good if they do not pose a threat to you, Jack.", I said.

"The ingredients for a heart: Pulse, Emotion… (a live frog)"

"Terror (a black spider).", the doctor said.

"Fear (hand scratching glass). Hope and despair (Two snakes swallowing one another). Mix them all together. And we have a heart." ("A heart ideal for the guidance system to be precise.", I muttered to myself)

Doctor Finklestein then moved over to a big switch, then he activated it, which operates the computer. However, it failed as the machine deactivated. The Doctor then suggested, "Maybe we're missing some ingredients. Let's try adding memory."

He then opened his skull, which operated like a hatch revealing a wiggling brain. (Eww…) He then called out for 'Sally' but when no one came, he said, "Good-for-nothing girl! Don't know why I bothered creating her!"

As he closed his hatch, he continued, "Sally's got the memory we need. See if you can track her down."

Jack replied, "No problem." Then, turning around, he asked Sora if he would like to come along, which he accepted. (Of course, he also counted me and my Co.)

Part II. Oogie Boogie and Ji

When we left Finklestein's Laboratory, however, the mayor was calling out on the megaphone saying, "Jack! Jack! We have a major crisis! The Heartless are completely out of control! We can't stop them!"

As Jack said, "Hmm… maybe our experiment triggered something. Everything will be fine, Mayor. You have nothing to worry about." we ignored him and busted the Heartless anyways. After using a couple of Remedies to cure ourselves of Poison (which felt like stomach cramps) from their attacks, a ghost dog named Zero by Jack as he asked him if he saw Sally. Zero then flew behind a gravestone, then a human sized rag doll appeared from behind there.

"Is something wrong Jack?", she asked.

Jack replied, "No, everything's going great. We're going to have the best Halloween ever. All we need now is your memory."

"'Memory?' You mean this?" as she revealed a forget-me-not flower.

As we (including Sally) headed back to the lab, she said, "Jack, I have a bad feeling about this. Why don't you try something else? There's still time."

"Nothing could beat what I've got planned! Once we give the Heartless a heart, they'll dance just as I envision it. (Sally shed a tear) Trust me. You're going to love it!"

Once we were back at the lab, we went to Dr. Finklestein. After we gave him the flower, he told us that 'surprise' was still missing and that the Mayor knows where it can be found.

When we came over to him, he told us to play a memory game involving ghosts and tombstones. Once we took care of that, we received a 'nice surprise' (a jack-in-the-box), which we returned to the Doctor. After he completed assembly, he said, "There you go. This time it's sure to work."

But as he moved to the device, a small round-face kid tripped him up and as the 'heart' flew out of his hands, it landed on the hands of a devil-face kid and the two ran towards a little witch who was waiting for them. Then as they all fled, the seven of us (my Co., Sora's, and Jack himself) pursued them, but we lost them at the square, however.

Just then, Zero came over and Jack ordered him to chase the trio. We then headed to the graveyard for that was where Zero went off to. There, we saw a walking bathtub and (worse?) a Wutai Associate who called himself Ji as he ordered the kids whom he named Lock (the devil), Shock (the witch), and Barrel (the chubby one) to head for 'Oogie's Manor'.

As we continued on, Jack muttered, "I knew Oogie Boogie was behind this!" as we saw the manor which was, by all means, spooky.

Eventually, we found the trio and Ji inside the house, and as Ji ran away, the kids (what the?) engaged us in battle. Since they were so short most of Sora's combos went over their heads and they were so fast I could not lock on to any one of them. Just then I had an idea and ordered everyone to jump up as I casted Immobilize on the ground, of course, immobilizing their legs. We easily took care of them afterward and searched around some more.

Soon, we saw Ji and a big bumbly man made out of sack and stuffing (this was Oogie Boogie).

"You want the heart?", Ji asked.

"Well then come over and get it!", Oogie said as he swallowed it as he laughed maniacally.

"Now, let's see if I can get their attention. Oh, Heartless!" and Heartless indeed came (2 Gargoyles to be exact).

"This is it? Nobody disrespects us! Nobody!", Ji said as we were dropped into a giant roulette with Ji and Oogie at the center. Everytime he threw dice at us, we deflected or blocked them and we busted every Heartless he deployed as we went. Soon, we found a pattern in the roulette and Sora was eventually able to ascend to Oogie and strike him (I could attack him from my position so long as I can see him) but he eventually was struck back down by Ji and we had to do it all over again. As Oogie activated 'torture devices' we all braced for them. When it came to blades, as the others jumped over them, I had to block them and lie down on the floor. As for guns, I blocked them easy and also had to run over to my companions to shield them too.

Eventually Oogie literally fell apart as the stuffing (which turned out to be insects) left his sack body. Ji fled the scene tactically. When we left the manor, the house suddenly, and quite literally came alive and prepared to attack us. While we went about the manor looking for 'dark orbs' to destroy as Jack said that was keeping it alive, we also had to fight Heartless and Ji himself as well. 5 minutes later, Ji was killed in the manor (the final blow was not done by me and I was too busy with the Heartless) and as we got out for the last time, the manor was destroyed and out to my hand flew 3 green Materia with 3 Z's (Sleep), a blue clock (Slow), and an orange clock (Haste), and also a red Materia with a hummingbird (Flit; Flit will zip around the area, stunning foes and dropping health orbs).

Just then, the Keyhole appeared on the ground, then Sora locked it by shooting a beam at the moon and it was reflected back to the Keyhole tenfold.

When we returned to Dr. Finklestein's lab, Jack apologized to Sally for not listening but Sally forgave him and said they'll plan next Halloween together. As I gave the two of them two paopus (hoping they can grow in such a desolated place), we then said goodbye to and teleported back to their Gummi ships afterward.

As we took off our costumes, we suddenly saw a pirate ship coming towards us and Sora's vessel. As Yoris went for the closet and pulled out hankies and put them on our heads in such a way it's like how pirates wear it, the pirate ship collided with our vessels and we were knocked unconscious.


	14. Chapter 13: Neverland

Part I. Betrayal for Real

As I woke up, Gregorio and Yoris were not with me and I seemed to be at the middle deck of the ship. As I explored, I saw Riku looking at the lower deck saying, "I didn't think you'd come, Sora."

Then, I saw Windelle (wearing a pirate captain's hat and eyepatch) at the deck above me saying (soft enough for Riku not to hear), "Didn't expect you, Rael."

As I gasped, (and heard Sora gasp too, but at Riku, not at my name) They both said, "Good to see you again."

As Sora asked for Donald and Goofy (and as I asked for Gregorio and Yoris), they said, "Are they that important to you? More important than old friends? ("What are you talking about?", I said,"They have been friends for only as long as you have been.") Instead of worrying about them, you should be asking about her."

As they stood aside, I saw Kairi appear next to Riku, and Florina to Windelle.

"Kairi!", Sora called out.

"Florina!", I called out.

Riku and Windelle then said to Sora and Me respectively, "That's right. While you were off goofing around, I finally found her."

"Searching blindly would've gotten me sick just worrying! Besides, my rocket's batteries drain when there are negative emotions.", I called out.

I then heard a gruff voice say, "Not so fast. No shenanigans aboard my vessel, boy."

Pirate Heartless then surrounded me under the command of a Wutai associate who called himself Geng.

"Windelle, why are the Heartless on your side? (I heard Sora say that too to Riku)"

"The Heartless obey me now, Rael(Sora). Now I have nothing to fear.", Windelle(Riku) said to me(Sora).

"That's stupid of you. They'll swallow your heart, sooner or later.", we said to them.

"I won't let that happen. My heart's too strong."

"Windelle…(Riku…)"

"I've learned a couple more tricks too. Like this." and then a Shadow Replica of me appeared. "You can go see your friends now." And I was dropped into a trap door and lost consciousness. When I woke up, I was on top of Gregorio and Yoris and next to us was Sora with Donald and Goofy. As Sora told about Kairi, I whispered to then about Florina and Windelle.

"You don't say?", Gregorio and Goofy said.

"Yup, It was absolutely Kairi(Florina) I finally found her.", Sora and I said.

"All right! Then let's go up and talk to her."

"Yeah!"

"Sounds great. Okay, but first…", Yoris and Donald said. "How about getting off!"

"Oh sorry." And we did. As we looked about to get out (since the room we're in is locked), a voice then said, "How ya doin' there? Looking for a way out?" then a boy in green 'forest' clothing flew (yes, flew) toward us.

When we asked who he was, he said, "I'm the answer to your prayers."

When we looked blankly at him, he said, "Okay, then. Fine. Have it your way."

"But you're stuck in here too, aren't you?", Sora asked.

"No. I'm just waiting for someone."

'Who?"

Then a light and a Green Requiem Heartless (which somehow lost its emblem) flew to the 'boy in green'.

"Tinker Bell, Requiem, what took you so long?" As the light 'imploded' to reveal a pixie, then the 'boy in green' said, "Great job. So you found Wendy?"

Some twinkling.

"Hold on. There are two more girls there too?"

More twinkling.

"Are you crazy? There is no way I'm gonna leave Wendy there!"

"Aha. She must be pretty jealous.", Yoris said and laughed. (I saw Requiem shake itself left and right as if sighing)

Tinker Bell then flew to Yoris and kicked him at the face and flew away.

"Come on Tink. Open up the door!"

As I cleared my throat, he introduced himself as Peter Pan. When Sora was about to shake his hand, Peter Pan pulled his hand away saying, "Okay, we're in this together, but only 'til we find Wendy."

Seeing no other preferable choice, we agreed. As the door was opened, we walked out and walked on. When Gregorio suddenly asked how come Peter Pan (refusing to be called just Peter) can fly, he said, "Anyone can fly. You wanna try?"

When we stooped stunned at him, he whistled and Tink and Requiem flew to him. When he said, "Aw, haven't you cooled off yet, Tink?" she then flew up and sprinkled 'pixie dust' on us.

When Peter Pan told us to fly, Donald jumped and flapped his arms, but just fell down as Tink laughed. Shrugging, Peter Pan tossed a green Materia at me which had a cloud (Float).

"Maybe that could help.", he added

As we walked on, Tink suddenly twinkled and when Peter Pan asked what was going on, a redhead girl in a blue nightdress appeared in the grille above us, and called out his name and told us to hurry; the pirates are coming.

"What!", Peter Pan gasped. "I'll be right up there! Just hold on!"

Just then Sora and I asked Wendy (which was the name of the girl we were talking to) if there was another girl with her.

"Oh, why, yes. There are two, by the way.", she replied. "But they seem to be asleep. They haven't budged an inch."

We then called out their names (Even I called out Florina by name).

Then Sora said to me, "Huh? have we met at Destiny Islands?"

I then said, gesturing to Yoris and Gregorio to remain quiet, "Don't jump to conclusions. There are other girls out there by that name. In fact, I even heard of a girl sharing your name, Sora. Even his (Peter Pan's) name is commonplace. Donald's is too."

Just then we heard Wendy's voice in distress, and Peter Pan told us to hurry, which we did.

"Why are you continuing this charade?", Yoris asked me.

"Didn't you and Gregorio want this?", I responded

"Oh, right."

When we reached the Captain's Quarters (according to Peter Pan) we saw Riku and Windelle holding Kairi and Florina (whose head was covered by a small sack). When we told them to wait, A shadow replica of Sora and me appeared. Though they had every single capability as we did, we were smarter and we soon eliminated them.

We then found Wendy unconscious. As Peter Pan came to her Tink and Requiem came over to him, but he silently waved them off. "Well, this is as far as i can go. I gotta help Wendy." and he flew off.

Part II. I Believe I Can Fly

When we exited the cabin, we were at the ship's deck as we were face-to-face with Geng and Captain Hook (at least according to how Peter Pan described him, complete with hook) who said, "Quite a codfish, those two — running off with those girls without a goodbye."

"Run off where? Tell me, where did he go?", Sora demanded.

"Now you're stupid. You think they'll tell you even if they knew?", I said to Sora.

To my surprise, they told us, "To the ruins of Hollow Bastion, where Maleficent and Xin reside. But you won't be going there." as they held up a cage holding Requiem and Tink. "Unless you intend to leave behind your little pixie and 'Heartful' (I then realized that Requiem had a heart symbol instead of the Heartless emblem)? Hand over the Keyblade and I'll save your lives. Be glad I'm merciful, unlike the Heartless. So which will it be? The Keyblade, or the plank?"

When I stole Sora's Keyblade and tossed it to Capt. Hook saying, "Here!", he caught it, but it returned to Sora's hand as I said, "It can't be wielded by just anybody. And Sora won't join your side."

Just then, we heard the ticking of an alarm clock as Capt. Hook said, "It's him! The crocodile that took me hand! Oh, Geng! He's after me other hand! I can't stay here! Go away! Oh, I can't stand the sight of him! Geng, take care of them!"

The Heartless then surrounded Sora and led him to the plank while Geng himself stopped us. As I silently casted Float to Sora, I heard Peter Pan saying, "Fly, Sora! Just believe and you can do it."

And he was able to do just that (whether it was by Peter Pan's words or by my spell I did not know.) and as Peter Pan stole the cage from Geng, they landed in front of him.

As he released Tink and Requiem, Sora thanked him and Peter Pan replied, "Hey, don't mention it. You didn't think I'd leave you guys here, did you?"

As Geng leaped up to Capt. Hook the Heartless came upon us, which we were easily were able to take care of. Peter Pan then tricked Hook and Geng down, then poked them on the butt with his knife.

Peter Pan then said, "Ready to make a splash, codfish? Now it's your turn to walk the plank!"

Just then, Heartless appeared all over the place and While Goofy (Donald was out, AGAIN!), and my Co. (myself included in this case) took care of them, Sora and Peter Pan handled Geng and Capt. Hook. Whenever any of us fell off (I need not worry about Peter Pan), I casted Float on them and they flew back to the ship since it lasts for 15 seconds only outside the ship. A few minutes later, Sora knocked Capt. Hook out of the ship (and 2 green Materia with a dot {Mini} and a statue {petrify} and also a yellow Materia with a meteor shower {Combo Shots} flew to my hands), and Peter Pan stabbed Geng in the heart and he faded into darkness.

After all that, Goofy said, "Uh, Kairi couldn't wake up, so maybe she's really lost her–" but I Silenced him with the Silence spell (which wore off seconds later).

"I still can't believe it. I really flew. Wait 'till I tell Kairi. I wonder if she'll believe me. Probably not.", Sora said.

"You could bring her to Neverland sometime.", Peter Pan said. "Then she can try it herself."

"If you believe, you can do anything right? I'll find Kairi. I know I will. (And, silently, I just knew I will meet Florina again.) There's so much I want to tell her– about flying, the pirates, and everything else that's happened."

Just then Tink 'told' Peter Pan about something in the 'clock' tower. We all then took off, with Tink's pixie dust and my Float Spell to England's Big Ben, where Wendy was waiting. We then flew to one of the Clock's faces and saw the Keyhole appear and Sora locked it. We then flew back to Wendy who had a chat with Peter Pan.

"Are you really going back to Neverland?", she said to him.

"Afraid so. But we can see each other any time. As long as you don't forget about Neverland, that is."

As they had a 'romantic time', Donald laughed and I tossed three paopus to Wendy and Peter Pan saying, "I hope the seeds grow in Neverland and in here too."

Just then Tinker Bell flew to Sora and Requiem flew to me and when Peter Pan told us to look after them for him, we agreed. We then teleported back to our Gummi Ships and as Sora headed for Traverse Town, I decided to take a long nap as we cruised for Olympus Coliseum since the Hercules Cup was up.

Once I woke up, we teleported down (helmets on), saw Sora and Co there too (must have slept a long time) and we attended the Hercules Cup. We battled well as always until it reached 4th Seed, where we had to fight Cloud AND Barret (meaning Sora's Co can attack Barret and we can do the same with Cloud).

-This battle is up to you to imagine, heheh.-

After a long and hard showdown, we eventually took them down and they quietly left without a word. After 2 more battles against the Heartless, we eventually reached the Hero of Heroes: Hercules. Though his golden aura unnerved us, Sora had the daring to lift a barrel and toss it at him. As his aura faded (probably because of that), we were able to strike him and he flinched due to the impacts. (While he's invincible, i.e. he has an aura, he can still land hits even while we're hitting him) As he was about to headbutt Sora, I blocked the blow and was sent flying above Sora towards the Coliseum wall. I turned around just in time to land my feet on the wall, and bounced back, tumbling forward. As I saw Hercules swinging his sword about and fending of the blows of my companions, I landed a couple of shots and one of them landed on his sword handle as it flew away. Just then, I saw a gold ring appear around Hercules and it exploded, but not before I was able to call Sora to get out of there. When the dust settled, Hercules was still there and Sora and I were the last ones standing.

-How the last moments of battle go is up to your imagination-

After holding up the trophy we received after defeating Hercules, we headed back to the entrance as Hercules commented that he was amazed by our teamwork; he didn't even hold back.

"Now I finally know what you mean about strength of heart.", Sora said. "Mine comes from Donald, Goofy, and these guys (me, Yoris, and Gregorio)."

"Come again?", Phil said.

"If we stick together, we're unbeatable. Not even Hercules stands a chance. With these guys beside me, I'm ready for anything!"

"But that's not exactly what I–"

"Of course. Your friends give you strength.", Hercules said. "Isn't that right, Phil? The three of you together make great heroes. And as a team, I'm sure you can overcome anything."

Just then, the Keyhole appeared and once Sora locked it, we bid farewell, then headed for Hollow Bastion via our Gummi Ships (we wore our 'Shin-Ra' masks here).


	15. Chapter 14: Hollow Bastion

-Here is a vital turning point in the story-

Part I. Weapons Lost

As we teleported down a suitable platform, we saw Sora and Co. as well beside us who said, "Nice to meet you guys again."

Just then, we heard a beast's roar and an Amazon cry (not that I know what one is, but it was definitely female). When we came over to the source, we saw Riku and Windelle (in his mask back from Monstro) just beat down 2 other fighters (we were too focused on our 'former friends' to inspect the fallen ones who were at either side of us).

Riku and Windelle said, "So, you finally made it. About time. I've been waiting for you. We've always been rival, haven't we? (Windelle did not say this sentence but instead kept silent and also for the next one) You've always pushed me, as I've always pushed you."

"Riku…", Sora said.

"But it all ends here. There can't be two Keyblade masters.(Only one of us can hold the 'Guns of Light'.)", Riku(Windelle) said.

"What are you talking about?"

"Let the Keyblade(DirLuxGun) choose… it's true master."

Just then, I heard a voice in my head saying,"Ooh. His heart looks stronger than this one. I better switch." then I found myself struggling to keep my gun and shield in hand as Sora was struggling with his Keyblade, but both to no avail.

As our companions gasped in surprise, our weapons disappeared from our hands and appeared in theirs (Riku had the Keyblade, and Windelle the DirLuxGun).

The two continued, "Maleficent and Master Xin were right. You don't have what it takes to save Kairi(Florina). It's up to us. Only we can open the secret door… and change the world."

We responded, "But that's impossible. How did this happen? We're the ones who fought our way here with those weapons."

"You were just the couriers. Sorry, your part's over now. Here, go play hero with this." as they tossed a Toy Sword to Sora and a Slingshot to me.

"Let's go.", Gregorio and Donald said to Goofy and Yoris. "We have to remember our mission."

The other two replied, "Oh! Well, I know the king(Solar Boy) told us to follow the key(One) and all… But…"

They soon reluctantly abandoned us as they apologized before doing so. Just then the fallen ones got up and were struggling ahead but they fell once more. When we came over, I realized they were the Beast(from Disney's Beauty and the Beast) and (I couldn't believe it; Flot and Jet weren't the only Neopets in the Kingdom Hearts universe) an anthropomorphic red Ixi (deer Neopet) whom I recognized as (these terms are for those who know a lot about Neopets) Ilsa Ellits (Female ), the defender of Meridell's Yooyuball Team (So that's what they meant about Team Meridell, I thought as I thought back at what Flot and Jet said back at Atlantica during the showdown with Ursula).

"Hey, don't move. You're hurt.", Sora told them as he went next to Beast and I to Ilsa.

"Why… Why did you… you come here?" the Beast asked Sora.

"I can't believe Agent Windelle fell to darkness and Agents Gregorio and Yoris defected to his side.", Ilsa said to me. "You ARE the one, right?"

As I answered her, "I am. Or was. I don't know anymore. I can't even believe I am here talking to you.", Beast got up without waiting for a reply and trudged on, saying, "I came to fight for Belle. And though I am on my own, I will fight. I won't leave without her. That's why I'm here."

Sora then got his Toy Sword and I my Slingshot as Ilsa got up too and trudged on.

"Me too.", Sora said. "I'm not gonna give up now. I came here to find someone very important to me."

"And I as well.", I said. "I did not come here all the way to Hollow Bastion just to give up."

Just then, I remembered the Tracker and I got it out of my bag (Gregorio did not take it with him) and detected a familiar signal back at Wonderland; Alice. I then stowed my Slingshot and took out the Toy Sword I found back at Destiny Islands during it's last day. We all then continued inside Hollow Bastion together, although we split up 'to find our friends faster'. While Sora and Beast turned for one direction, Ilsa and I went for the other.

"Uh, Ilsa, were you also sent by the Solar Boy? I heard from 2 individuals named Flot and Jet that four Agents were specifically sent to anticipate me. Are you one of them?", I said.

"No. Agent Florina is the fourth. I was sent here at a later time to find the Solar Boy."

"Florina's an Agent? And how did you know about her?"

"I spent time with her as well as the other three I had mentioned. They were sent at Destiny Islands as humans to anticipate your arrival." (They were actually anthropomorphic Neopets, like Ilsa, but not necessarily Ixis like herself)

"Odd. They did not introduce themselves to me as such."

"Their teleportation vessel, which was not a Gummi Ship, had a problem and their memories were somehow modified."

"How do you know about that, Ilsa?"

"I was the one who monitored their transportation, that's how I know."

"Oh, I see. By the way, I saw you with Beast. Why was it that you were with him when Sora and I came over?"

"Sora?"

"The Keyblade master. Or he once was now Riku has the Keyblade."

"Oh, him. When I came in next, there was an error in the teleportation and I landed at Beast's Castle. I spent a few days there with him and Belle. At the last day, Heartless came and invaded the Castle. Even as the two of us fought, Belle was captured by them and as his world was about to be destroyed. Beast managed to follow her here by sheer will and I was holding his arm all the while. By the way, at his world's last moment, I thought I saw a 3-pronged candle holder become crystallized." She then said no more as we continued on.

As I busted barrels with the Toy Sword, I found pieces to shoot with using my slingshot, though I still was pretty helpless against the Heartless in the area; Ilsa had to deal with all of them as I served to be merely a decoy. As we continued, I eventually detected Windelle and the others and as I ran, Ilsa followed.

Part II. Recovery

Eventually, we reached a wide room and no one was around, though I saw a lot of hiding places.

"Be on your guard.", Ilsa said. "They're close, I can feel it. Are you ready for them?"

Just then, Windelle, Gregorio, and Yoris appeared.

Windelle then said, "Quit while you can."

I replied, "No. Not 'til I see Florina."

"The darkness will destroy you." as he switched to Dark Form, where his clothes reversed color.

"Don't scare him like that. They'll have to go through me first.", Ilsa said.

"I got nowhere else to go. So be it!", I called out.

"All right then!", Windelle said as he drew out both guns and fired. Just as Ilsa was about to take the shot for me, I saw a fireball make arc around the room and intercepted the shots.

Yoris then leaped over to our side saying, "Rael ain't leaving this universe until we finish our quest!"

"You'd betray the Solar Boy?", Windelle asked.

"Not on your life! But I ain't betraying either him or her!" as he faced me and Ilsa. "The reason is because he has become my bud after all we've been through."

As he turned towards Gregorio, he said, "See you later. Could you tell the Solar Boy I'm really sorry?"

"Hold on there! We'll tell him together." as he ran over towards me, Yoris, and Ilsa. "I guess you're stuck with us."

"Thank you, guys.", I said to them.

"How will you fight without a weapon?", Windelle taunted insultingly.

"I don't need it.", I said as I brought out my Slingshot (and stowed the Toy Sword). "I got my companions."

Windelle chuckled at that part. "What good will your friends do against the almighty power of the DirLuxGun and my GunDeLuna?"

"I trust my companions to the fullest and made friends with them. I know with our teamwork, we can't possibly lose, even to those guns. Even if we are set apart, as long as we think of one another, our bonds will not break."

Just then, I heard a voice saying, "What? This guy's using dark powers?! I better scoot off to that guy. Better a weak heart of light than a strong heart of darkness." and the DirLuxGun disappeared from Windelle's hand.

As I dropped my Slingshot in surprise, the riot shield and the DirLuxGun appeared in my hands. Windelle was enraged and we engaged him in battle. (It's a 3-fighter limit when I'm not with Sora so Gregorio was switched out)

Windelle was incredibly fast as he zoomed around the area and while Ilsa and I were back-to-back, Yoris was in between us blasting homing fireballs. During the battle, I realized that Ilsa was not merely a melee combatant; she also was able to cast a Reflect spell, nullifying any damage for that instant, and Cure (as well as it's -ra and -ga levels) was the only other spell she knew. After 10 minutes, he was defeated, Dark Form lost and ran away as he left behind Materia of -ra levels of Stop, Gravity, and Aero. After I retrieved my slingshot, the four of us explored the castle. Soon, we ran to Donald, Goofy, Beast, and Sora who had his Keyblade back and was holding his Toy Sword on his other hand.

As he gave the Toy Sword to me, I said, "Impressive. You managed to retrieve your Keyblade."

"And you?", he said to me.

"Me too."

"Good. Let's get going."

As we continued exploring Hollow Bastion, Maleficent and another Wutai Associate, whom I assumed to be Xin appeared who said that we were too late. "Any moment now, the final Keyhole will be unsealed. This world will be plunged into darkness. It is unstoppable."

"We'll stop it!" Sora said. "After coming this far, there's no way we're gonna let that happen!"

"You poor, simple fools. You think you can defeat us, Xin, leader of the Wutai Association and Maleficent, the mistress of all evil?"

As we began to engage the two of them, Maleficent manipulated a large rock and she flew to it while Xin charged up his Weapon with darkness as Heartless appeared all over the place. (Beast was not part of this fight due to the 6-fighter limit and I still had Ilsa in and Gregorio out) As Sora's Co. took care of Maleficent, we dealt with Xin. Even as he swung around his weapon which gave status effects, I kept casting Esuna and also did a few status ailments too on him. We also dodged and defended against Maleficent's meteors and Thunder while Xin came over to her. A few minutes later, we ended the battle with my Combo Shots and Sora's Ars Arcanum as they retreated into a dark portal. It did not disappear, so we had the guts to cross it.

Part III. Finally Revealed

Once we got through, we saw Riku (in Dark form, according to Sora) holding a Dark 'Keyblade' and Windelle holding a black variant of my gun as well as his GunDeLuna.

"Is that…", Donald said, referring to Riku's 'Keyblade', which I doubted was real since Sora's had a keychain at the handle's back.

"Yes. A Keyblade('Gun of Light, or should I say, a Gun of Darkness').", Riku and Windelle said. "But unlike yours(Unlike your DirLuxGun), this Keyblade('Gun of Darkness') holds the power to unlock people's hearts(has the ability to make anyone more powerful than ever). Allow me to demonstrate. Behold!" as Riku stabbed Maleficent and Windelle shot Xin.

"Now, open your heart, surrender it to the darkness! Become darkness itself!"

Maleficent then transformed into a huge black dragon spewing out green flames and Xin became a Vajradhara, a giant 'Anti-SOLDIER' unit back at its world (from FF7: Crisis Core), and it wielded a two-sided spear (rather than a tomahawk, or a ball-chain, or a mace). They started by slamming the ground repeatedly, which I responded to by casting Float (which lasted longer here) on the whole party. Then Sora casted Aero and summoned Tinker Bell. I casted Barrier, MBarrier, and summoned Requiem (who constantly heals me and even revives me once when I get KO'd). (Our companions were attacking the other parts of their body and taking care of themselves) When I realized that their weak points were at their heads, I cast Haste on the whole party and the world became slo-mo as Sora did combos on Maleficent's head and while I shot away at Vajradhara Xin. Just then we were back in normal time and while Sora managed to dodge Maleficent's claw attack, Vajradhara Xin's staff fell upon me as I blocked the blow which Stopped me. Luckily, Yoris and Ilsa had the liberty to get me out of there and once I was out of Stop, I cast Slow on Vajradhara Xin and Dragon Maleficent. Once they were back in normal time and after we dealt a flurry of blows, Maleficent started spraying fire all over the place while Vajradhara Xin started swinging around his staff crazily.

Still, we pushed on and once they faded into darkness and after a Red Materia with a candle holder symbol (Ilsa mentioned something like this to me before; Lumiere: turns his arms around and shooting flames forward while on my head.),

Riku and Windelle commented, "How ironic. They were merely just yet 2 more puppets after all."

"What?!", Ilsa cried out.

"The Heartless were using Maleficent and Xin from the beginning. They failed to notice the Darkness in their hearts eating away at them. A fitting end for such fools."

They then disappeared into a dark portal. Beast then left us for he said he'd look for Belle and we said farewell to him. We then went up to a high rise where the final Keyhole was. As we got up to the platform, we then heard a thunk and when I looked back, Goody fainted and Yoris was 'stuck' on the wall. Just then, Sora shouted out Kairi and when I looked too, I saw Florina (head still in a sack) and we ran for them.

When Sora picked up Kairi and tried to wake her up, Riku and Windelle's voices (though their voices seemed to be fused with 2 more) said it was no use since Kairi lost her heart and that Florina (yes, Windelle said her name and Sora repeated the name) was drugged with a Sleeping Draught.

As Windelle took off his SOLDIER Mask (revealing jet black hair instead of white like Riku), Sora called out "Windelle?", and when he shot out my mask (I had to wear my glasses since the mask I wore also provided a clearer vision) and those of my companions (they put on their beanies immediately after by the way), he called out Gregorio and Yoris' names but he did not say mine (for he did not know it), but instead said "Didn't I see you before? I never got your name."

"Yeah. Name's Rael by the way.", I said. "Those guys don't seem to be really them. Notice the voices?"

Just then, Riku and Windelle said, "The Keyhole cannot be completed so long as the princess of heart still sleeps."

"The princess…? Kairi's (Florina's) a princess?"

"Not Florina. Kairi is. Without her power, the Keyhole will remain incomplete. it is time she awakened."

"Whoever you are, let Riku and Windelle go! Give them back their hearts."

"But first, you must give the princess back her heart."

Just then, something flashed at Sora's chest and he was down on his knees as if he was struck down. As Gregorio, Donald, Ilsa and I all wondered what was happening to him and called out his name in concern, the two of then said, "Don't you see yet? The princess's heart is responding. It has been there all along. Kairi's heart rests within you."

"Kairi… Kairi's inside me?", Sora asked.

"How is this possible?", I asked.

"I know all there is to know.", the two of them said.

"Tell us. Who are you?," we said.

"It is I, Ansem (Stickee), the seeker of darkness(the evil stick figure)."

Ilsa, Donald, and Gregorio then came charging at the two but they were thrown out easily, leaving Sora and me to deal with Riku and Windelle.

"So, I shall release you now, Princess.", Riku said as he pointed his Keyblade at Sora.

When I aimed at Riku, Windelle aimed at me.

"Complete the Keyhole with your power. Open the door, lead me to everlasting darkness!"

As Riku was about to land his Keyblade at Sora, he suddenly deflected it and just when Windelle was about to shoot him, I shot him away.

"Forget it!", I said. "No way are you killing Sora just like that!"

Riku then started with a flurry of slashes which Sora was able to block with ease. Windelle then started shooting away at me and I blocked it all the way, wary for any teleporting he may do behind me. Just then, Riku and Windelle switched their targets and though I was able to block Riku's blows with a bit of difficulty, Sora had a lot of it while he was deflecting Windelle's shots. They then disappeared, but when we thought it was over, cannonballs and Riku (yes, Riku) came flying towards us and as Sora constantly tried hard to dodge it, I was doing the same for blocking. Just as Riku and Windelle appeared and landed their weapons on the ground, I grabbed Sora, thrust down my shield, got him and me on, and when pillars of energy appeared, we were safe from it. After that, Riku then rushed towards us from the front and we both dodged it with a back flip. As Windelle appeared next to Riku, I called my shield to come to me (since I left it on the ground while dodging Riku) and it struck the duo from behind as it returned to me. Sora then followed through with an Ars Arcanum and they disappeared (and Riku left his Dark Keyblade behind) and a yellow Materia with a symbol of the Solar Boy (Taiyou) appeared as well as seven green Materia which are the -ga levels of my spells.

Part IV. Sora, The Shadow

Just then, all of our companions came over to us and got our attention to the final Keyhole. When Sora tried 'locking' it with his Keyblade, it was to no avail since it wasn't finished yet. Goofy then had an idea; wake up Kairi. Then Sora knew what to do.

As he walked to the Dark Keyblade, I suddenly knew what he was gonna do and I ran to it first saying, "Stop right there, Sora!" as I picked it up and pointed it to him.

But then, he did something I did not expect him to do; he thrust himself to the Keyblade as I held it. As that happened, it disappeared and turned into six orbs of light as they flew to (I suddenly realized) the other six princesses of heart. Then, an orbs came out of Sora and it landed on Kairi. Coincidentally, Florina woke up too and was attempting to remove the sack on her head, which I did for her since I was no longer holding the Dark Keyblade. Just then, the final Keyhole opened and as I saw Sora about to fall to the floor, everyone else, including the newly awakened Kairi, rushed to him. Kairi reached him first, but he disappeared into starry twinklings as they rose in the air.

As we were speechless as that all happened, Kairi then first spoke, "Sora, are you really– No. He can't be! I won't let him go!"

Just then, a black stick figure with red eyes (not bloodshot but evilly red) and a dark evil-looking man appeared saying, "So you have awakened at last, Princess. The Keyhole is now complete. You have served your purpose. But now it's over."

As he approached, Donald, Goofy, Gregorio, Yoris, Ilsa, Florina (she still had that gun she had back at the Departure), and I prepared to battle as Kairi went behind us since she had no weapon.

"Don't make another move!", Donald valiantly called out.

Goofy then said to him, "Do you think we can stop them all by ourselves?"

Donald replied, "I don't know!" as Ansem with Stickee continued walking towards us.

Just then, They halted in their tracks as the 'spirits' of Riku and Windelle (neither in their Dark Forms) appeared saying, "No. You won't use us for this!"

"Riku! Windelle!", Kairi and Florina called out.

"You gotta run! The Heartless are coming." and we all did as they indeed appeared. As we fled, Goofy then got concerned about the Keyhole, but Donald did not care about it now and just focused on escaping. After 5 minutes of running (and a short snack with crackers and a few paopus which I treated to Kairi and Florina), we reached a 'safe haven'. A second later, a lone Shadow appeared, walking like a human instead of being crouched down like most others, and Donald walked over to it.

As he bonked it on the head, he said, "Confounded Heartless! Get lost, will ya?"

As it looked at Kairi, she called out Sora's name and if that was him. Just then, lots of other Shadows appeared. As the rest of us surrounded Kairi and the 'Truant Shadow', we also fended off the enemies that were coming upon us. Once the first wave stopped, I then pondered on the thought of Sora I then took out my Toy Sword and tossed it to the Shadow. When it then wielded it like Sora once did with his Keyblade, my suspicions were confirmed that this Shadow IS Sora.

Just then, another wave of Heartless appeared and we assumed our positions once more. Once that wave is over, Sora then pointed to my DirLuxGun, Florina's gun (which she calls the RefLuxGun, since it charges under all other lights, be it reflected or refracted, instead of direct light like mine) then to himself. Seeing what he is referring to, Florina then asked Kairi to stand aside, pointed her gun at Sora and then motioned me to do the same.

As we aimed, beams like spotlights appeared from our guns and as they fell upon him, he was transformed into his original form but as a white silhouette. When Kairi embraced him, he was completely returned to normal as he said "Thank you." to Kairi, Florina, and me.

Just then, more Shadows appeared and before we can proceed to fight, Beast appeared and told us to go now.

When Sora asked him to come with us, he replied, "I told you before, I'm not leaving without Belle. Now go! The Heartless are coming."

When Ilsa protested, he told her, "Don't worry about me. Go with them!"

As Beast took care of the Shadows, we evacuated to our respective Gummi Ships and zoomed for Traverse Town.


	16. Chapter 15: Preparations

Part I. Revelations

As our Gummi Ships cruised towards Traverse Town, Sora and I chatted with one another about our companions and when Sora mentioned Cid, Aerith, Yuffie (all which I know of), and Leon, I took interest in that particular person. Eventually, judging by what Sora said about this 'Leon' (especially the gunblade), I silently confirmed that maybe, just maybe, this Leon and the Squall the SeeD Remnants told me about are the same person.

As I pondered on the thought, my companions took the communicator and asked Sora to give the communicator to Donald and Goofy. As I heard them talk (the conversation is being heard in the ship's speakers), they were (how do I say this) comparing Sora's and my abilities, summons, and spells, and saying their companion is better than the other and things like that.

Just before they can go too far, I took the communicator, asked for Sora (who probably had his speakers on too in his ship), and told him, "Pay no attention to all that. Teamwork makes us all better fighters. Are we clear?"

Sora confirmed the reply since we were already close to Traverse Town. As we landed, before we parted for now, I asked Sora to tell me the address of 'Leon' and not to leave until a flying message arrives ("You will know it by the sun icon I will be drawing.", I added).

While Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Kairi went to their friends in this world, we did to ours (Florina and Ilsa were now part of my team). When we reached the SeeD Remnants HQ, (and after introducing Florina and Ilsa to the team), Irvine asked us (since he hinted that we had gone through a rough battle) what had happened, and we told everything that we had been been through (even the parts where we met Sora's Co. and his eventual revealing of our identities to him). I even mentioned Sora's friends in traverse Town (Cid, Aerith, Yuffie, and 'Leon').

The four of our friends took interest and I told them I intended to send a message to him about the four of them. "Do you have a picture of your team before the tragic destruction of your world?", I asked.

"As a matter of fact, we do.", Rinoa answered as she showed us a picture of the whole gang with Balamb Garden (I presume) in the background.

"You must have been an awesome team.", Florina commented.

"As a matter of fact, i was the last to join the gang.", Irvine said.

"No way!", Ilsa replied.

"True. It was during one of our 'assignments' back in our world did he join the party.", Zell responded. "Anyway, back to the problem of the Keyhole, you said that darkness is flowing out of it."

"No wonder there are more and more Heartless all over the place.", Quistis remarked. "The only means of stopping it is for Sora to seal it with his Keyblade."

"However, who knows what may happen once it's sealed."

"Well, we can't just stick around doing nothing. We got friends back there.", Florina said in fustration.

"Correct. You have them to worry about.", Irvine responded. "Windelle's gun might've been created by Stickee himself. Don't worry there, friend. If anyone can save him, all of you can. Especially when you join forces with Sora."

"Thanks. Uh, by the way, may I send a letter to someone?", I asked. "Not just any letter but something like the one you gave us that led us to the sewers to you."

"Why, sure." And as I was given a piece of paper, I wrote:

Hello there! This letter is for Leon (or is it Squall, like the Great Ninja Yuffie calls him? Ahhh, I'm so confused.) If the attached picture rings any bells, or if you are at least interested, follow the arrow that comes out of this thing and follow it. Our team has something in common with yours; we defend Traverse Town from the Heartless. But somehow, fate seems to keep us apart. With this, we may probably meet and we may have a surprise for you. See ya!

Once I was done, I asked Rinoa for the picture she showed us and then when she gave it to me I put it in the envelope Quistis provided. Afterwards, Irvine took the letter, said some words and before it flew to its destination, I grabbed it and drew a sun icon before releasing it.

We then said goodbye to the SeeD Remnants and as we waited for Sora and Co., A message appeared on the tracker (which was connected to the Gummi Ship) as it told us about the Hades Cup in Olympus Coliseum and also of the appearances of a Kurt Zisa in Agrabah and Phantom in Neverland. As we waited, Sora and Co. finally came but Kairi was missing.

"Wait a sec. Where's Kairi?", I asked him. "And don't say 'Isn't she with you?'."

Sora replied, "She's in the base where Leon and friends are."

"Oh, I see. By the way, did your friends receive the flying letter?"

"Yes. But they will read it later since they're going to Hollow Bastion with us later in my Gummi Ship."

"Oh, I see. Well, let's get going. I got reports of a Kurt Zisa in Agrabah, a Phantom in Neverland, and the Hades Cup is up in the Olympus Coliseum. Where to first?"

"Hades Cup!"

"Thought so." And we went to Olympus Coliseum to participate in the Hades Cup. (Gregorio, Yoris, and I came in with our helmets but we removed them as we entered the entrance in front of Phil and Hercules.)

Part II. Unfinished Business

In the Hades Cup, we contended wave after wave of Heartless. In the 44th Seed, Sora's Co were separated again (for the same reasons as in the last Seed in the Pegasus Cup; the barrier went down after we were both finished) from ours (I had Florina and Ilsa as my allies in this tournament) as the three of us contended with Rinoa (Sora and Co. were probably fighting Yuffie).

It was quite easy partly since Irvine wasn't with her, and partly because Florina moves like an acrobat and Ilsa was wise enough to grip Rinoa's Blaster Edge, leaving her with her gunblade. In the 40th Seed, we battled a Behemoth Heartless.

Despite it's might at first sight, we took care of it relatively fast compared to other bosses. In the 30th Seed, we fought Cerberus, who was stronger than before (our battle with him back after our first battle with Cloud and Barret was quite easy since I suspected that Hercules was able to wear him down while we fled, then returned). We eventually defeated him and went on fighting the next Heartless teams.

(Of course, we had breaks and that was after every ten rounds.) On the 20th Seed We fought Cloud, Barret, Leon, and Irvine. There was no barrier this time but for some odd reason, the two of them never managed to get close to one another, even if we weren't trying to keep them apart. In fact, we were trying to bring them together but it was too difficult since we also had Cloud and Barret to handle.

-How the battle goes is up to your imagination. ;-) Sorry.-

Before we knew it, the battle was over and they had to leave. We then continued fighting the waves of Heartless (we took a break first) and at the 10th Seed, we came face to face with the Lord of the Dead himself; Hades. Despite his intense heat and fire attacks, he did not seem to be allowed to use his full power and we were able to defeat him, but he said, "You guys aren't worth fighting this long." as he vanished in a puff of smoke.

Eventually, we reached the 1st Seed where we had to combat a Rock Titan. He was relatively easy compared to Hades since he was so bulky and so slow we were able to land a lot of blows on him and he rarely was able to hit us at all (even Ilsa was lightning fast for him, relatively speaking). In the end, Sora obtained the Trinity Limit and I obtained a Headshot ability (in the form of a yellow Materia, of course) which gives a chance to KO enemies when I shoot them in the head (Before, they only damage as much as anywhere else, and against bosses, as I found out later, Headshot merely does triple damage, which is okay for me).

We then entered again, this time, for the Gold Match where we had to deal with an Ice Titan, who was a quite difficult boss due to his ice attacks and the fact that they are enhanced by Aero spells. We all had to keep moving just to not get frozen by his attacks. Eventually, Sora found a way to defeat him by deflecting his icicles back at him. Since I am not capable of such, all I could do was melt the ice all around so as not to slip. When he crumbles due to the deflected shards, we pounded him with whatever Fire attacks we got and when he got up, we repeated the sequence.

Eventually, Ice Titan was defeated and we set off for Agrabah to deal with Kurt Zisa (We did see that the Platinum Match was available but seeing that the opponent was too strong, we skipped out for now). When we arrived at Agrabah, While Sora and Co. went off to battle Kurt Zisa, we went shopping for food supplies (since, duh, we have to eat and our supply in the Gummi ship was running out and i did not want to use up the paopus, which still haven't expired, to my surprise). Once in a while, we encountered Heartless and some of the palace guards, who were on patrol, offered munny in return for our aid.

Ten minutes later, Sora and Co. returned, reporting that Kurt Zisa was defeated and showed a 'piece' (I will not say what it is) as proof. We then set off to Neverland, then went off for the Clock Tower and faced the phantom 4 at a time (Sora, myself, and two others). Whenever one of us is knocked out of the battle (and can't be revived due to the Phantom's effect) he/she is replaced by another of our total party. It was a very difficult battle since it only reveals its heart infrequently, but Phantom was eventually defeated, with Sora, myself, and Florina as the last ones standing. When I asked Sora if he thinks we are ready for Sora the Platinum Match (Sephiroth), he said yes and we set off back to Olympus Coliseum.

Part III. Final Tasks

Once we arrived at the Coliseum, we saw another Gummi Ship docked just outside the entrance and Barret was there. He merely waved as we greeted him, then we entered the Coliseum. As we got ready to battle Sephiroth, we passed by Cloud who was standing by and he merely said, "Good luck."

As we entered the arena (only Sora and I entered), Sephiroth started by zipping around the field, attacking us from all directions and even if we were back to back, he just appears in between us and spins around with his long sword, the Masamune as he calls it.

His "Stigma" truly caused problems for us though when there were two pillars relatively close to one another we had to hold on to each other. (I called away my DirLuxGun in this situation and held Sora with my free hand since I still needed the shield in case Sephiroth intends to split us apart and the gun does little to serve as a 'blocker') "Every Shadow Flare he calls upon, I arrive to block it whenever I or Sora can't escape from them. Every time he casts Heartless Angel (no Heartless actually appear), we both used a Megalixir pronto since it drains everything but 1 HP. Eventually, after being drained of Megalixirs and nearly all of our HP (even my shield disappeared from taking too much damage but it eventually returns when I call it outside battle and Cure it), Sephiroth was defeated but he did not fall.

Instead, Cloud came over to talk to him. As we headed back to the Coliseum Entrance, leaning on one another due to fatigue in battle, we then heard a clashing of swords but as we turned around, they were gone. Just before we returned to our Gummi Ships, Barret was gone along with the Gummi Ship he was next to (he probably pursued Cloud and Sephiroth using his vessel). Shrugging, we then set off for Hollow Bastion.

Part IV. Before World's End

As we went back to Hollow Bastion via the same way as we entered it the first time, we headed for the library to rest since we encountered strong Heartless as we went. As I borrowed Sora's "Ansem's Report" and read it, we saw Beast walking up one of the staircases and, just then, he called out Belle's name and sure enough, as we followed, there she was in a golden gown as she browsed the books.

As Beast came over to embrace her, we also saw three other princesses in the place whose names were Aurora, Cinderella, and Snow White (all from their respective Disney films). As the rest of us chatted with Snow White and Cinderella, Aurora revealed to Sora, Donald, and Goofy about Maleficent's origins (but I wasn't paying close attention so I can't give out details).

We then left them (they ensured us as their being Princesses of Heart, they can ward off the darkness while united), we came around to the place where we first fought Maleficent (Beast joined us at this point) and suddenly, a guy in a black hood and someone unexpected; a Black Power Ranger (to be exact, Shadow Ranger from Power Rangers SPD but instead of a 100 on the suit's front, it was a Roman Numeral I so I just knew that Anubis Cruger, who is the original Shadow Ranger, was not the one behind the helmet).

Suddenly the two of them passed 'through' Sora and me (I experienced disorientation).

"Who are you?", Sora asked them.

"Black Ranger.", I muttered to myself.

When Goofy asked if he was Ansem, they hinted that they were familiar with that name. Just then, the hooded figure (who I'll call Unknown) blasted an energy attack at Sora, which he blocked. "Black Ranger" did a slash wave at me which I blocked. Then the two of them engaged us in battle. (I was so confused with the fact a Power Ranger was fighting us so I was not able to describe how the battle took place. However, I know for sure that we had defeated them.) After the battle, they backed away, delivered cryptic messages to us, then vanished in a dark portal.

Dismissing what they said, we then went to the Keyhole (where Sora finally recognized who I was) and jumped through it. We then encounter a Behemoth Heartless and began to engage it in battle. We eventually found its weak point and defeated it.

Goofy said, "Now let's go and seal that big Keyhole." but then, a voice behind us congratulated Sora and we walked back out.

When we came out, we saw three of Sora's friends back at Traverse Town; Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith.

Leon started the conversation with, "We may never meet again but we'll never forget each other."

Aerith: "No matter where we are, our hearts will bring us together again."

Rael: (to myself) "And 'Leon' will soon be with his old friends"

Yuffie: "Besides, I couldn't forget you even if I wanted to."

Sora: "What's that supposed to mean?"

Florina: "Hehehehehe."

Donald and Goofy: "Sora! Hurry and close the Keyhole!"

Leon: "Sora, good luck."

We then went back and after sealing the Keyhole, we came back to the three of them and when I asked Leon if he received the message with the sun icon (my message), he said he did and that they will be sticking around to fend off more Heartless.

As we were about to leave Hollow Bastion, we encountered Barret who just said, "I have a feeling Cloud will end up here soon. Until then, I'll fight the Heartless here until he arrives."

We then returned to our Gummi Ships and suddenly, Vic Vipers (where at least one also appears after a Keyhole is locked) appeared and flew around us and closed in for the kill. During the dogfight, we headed for Traverse Town, busting the Heartless vessels as we went.

"What's with these things?" I wondered.

After the battle, we docked down and while Sora shopped around for items, I went to the SeeD Remnants HQ and invited Irvine, Rinoa, Quistis, and Zell to come with us to Hollow Bastion since 'Leon' would not be able to come visit them and that they have to be the ones to come to him as a result. We then flew to Hollow Bastion (and fought another Vic Viper fleet) and landed there.

Once we landed and escorted them to the entrance, Rinoa then said, "You guys better get going and save all the worlds with Sora. We'll take care of things here." As we said farewell to them (and a silent 'good luck' wish that Squall will remember them), we followed Sora's Gummi Ship (and attacked yet another Vic Viper fleet) and reached a 'forsaken' world and we teleported down to it. However, afterward, we lost contact with the Gummi Ships as the Teleporter no longer worked (Luckily, I brought a large supply of provisions with me beforehand).

**Kingdom Bites Remake: Zell's Errands  
**

"Uhh..., Quistis?", I asked her.

"Yeah?"

"I was wondering. I saw that Zell is running errands. To whom is he running them for?"

"If you want to know that, I'm afraid that you'll have to ask Zell himself."

I then left to look for him, and soon encountered the 'errand runner'.

"Yo!", Zell greeted. "What is it I can help you with?"

"Who do you run errands for?"

"How do you know that?"

"The first time I saw you, after you broke out the panel that was in your way and busted the Heartless, you mentioned about being late for your errand."

"Oh, that? You see, I'm serving as a deliveryman in the Second District, where Heartless are so commonplace that no one dares to just leave their homes to deliver stuff to one another. So I run errands for just anyone."

"Okay. Thanks for telling me."

"You're welcome."


	17. Chapter 16: End of the World

As we observed what was around us (there's no turning back), we saw a very desolate purple sea and similarly colored platforms and Goofy said, "Gawrsh, is that all that's left of the worlds taken by the Heartless?"

"Those worlds will be restored if we beat Ansem and Stickee (I mentioned him to Sora as we discussed stuff with one another back after leaving Hollow Bastion for the first time), right?", Sora asked and Ilsa replied, "You bet".

"But, if we do beat them and all these worlds become restored and disconnected, what's gonna happen to this place? And to us?"

"Hmm. Now that you mentioned it, now I'm scared.", I said to him.

"This is a Heartless world, so maybe it'll just disappear. (We all gasped) But no worries. Even if this place goes poof, our hearts ain't goin' nowhere. I'm sure we'll find our pals again. Yup, I just know that we will."

"Yeah, you're right.", Sora said.

"Now I'm really worried.", Florina muttered.

As I saw Sora look at a lucky charm (made out of thalassa shells, and from Kairi as he told me when I asked him what that was), he muttered that he will return it to Kairi. We then strolled along, fighting Heartless and obtaining treasures as we went.

Eventually, we reached a set of 'terminals' and when we entered it, it turns out to be a fragment of a world we already visited and we had to redo every boss battle. (When it came to Atlantica and Halloween Town, we were instantly transformed into whatever we were there; i.e. in Atlantica, Sora's Co. are aquatic as ours were in scuba suits. When it came to Florina and Ilsa, who weren't with us in those worlds, they remained in their original forms except for Atlantica, where they wore scuba suits too) We also came in a certain world which I do NOT remember entering and Sora said this is a portion of the 100 Acre Wood.

When we left it, we entered an orange 'terminal' and as we explored, busted Heartless, and left afterward, we saw a hole and we jumped in. Just then, we were floating (and I did not even have Float equipped) and then a big, black devil (Chernabog) appeared and began to attack us.

We started by casting barriers to one another and good thing too since he suddenly made the volcano erupt and the lava spurts harmlessly fell away (the first seconds during the barrier's activation makes the targets invincible for a while, then it's down to half damage). Next, he started breathing fire, which we avoided by flying to his back (and attacked him while we were there). After we repeated this sequence a few times, he then flapped his devil wings and blew us away. Then he cast lasers toward us, which we had a hard time deflecting since Sora can't Guard while in the air and had to resort to hitting them back at Chernabog. As for me, I had a hard time swinging my shield around and only managed to land a few shots at the lasers (I was too busy to check on the others but they were still quite A-OK). When he was done, we flew to him with all we got and finally defeated him who disappeared in purple-white flames, leaving the volcano behind, which was now extinct.

We flew in and, after some more conflicts with the Heartless, we encountered a "Save Point" and a large door. After 'saving', the door opened and revealed… Destiny Islands.

"Is this… is this my island?", Sora asked.

"I doubt it. Probably a copy like the ones we've been through.", I remarked, referring to the 'terminals' we passed through previously.

We then walked to the "Secret Place" (Sora led us there), then we heard voices say, "This world has been connected." A small islet disappeared and Goofy gasped in surprise.

"Tied to the darkness… soon to be completely eclipsed." Half of the bridge disappeared.

"There is so very much to learn." The water turned purple.

"You understand so little. A meaningless effort." The place shook and cracks and holes appeared in the sky. As we wandered around, we suddenly saw Riku and Windelle in their Dark Forms.

As we approached them, they then said (but not with their voices, they belonged to the ones who said our journey was futile), "Take a look of this tiny place. To the heart seeking freedom and the heart seeking power this island is a prison surrounded by water. And so these boys sought to escape this prison. They sought a way to cross over into other worlds without a vessel's aid. And they opened their hearts to darkness." They then turned around and became Ansem and Stickee.

"Riku! Windelle!", we called out.

"Don't bother. Your voices can no longer reach then where they are. Their hearts belong again to darkness. All worlds begin in darkness, and all so end. The heart is no different. Darkness sprouts within it, grows, consumes it. Such is its nature. In the end, every heart returns to darkness whence it came. (He then appeared behind us.) You see, darkness is the heart's true essence."

"LIARS!", I said.

Sora continued for me, "The heart may be weak. And sometimes it may even give in. But I've learned that deep down, there's a light that never goes out."

They flew to the air and said as they crossed their arms, "So, you have come this far and still you understand nothing. Even light must fade, every heart return to darkness!" and Guardians appeared behind them (KH fans would know).

As Sora, Donald, and Goofy went for Ansem, (I had Gregorio and Ilsa for this battle.) the rest of us went for Stickee. As his Guardian shot projectiles at us, we deflected them as we approached him and I landed Combo Shots at him. Just then, the Guardian went for me, grabbed my shield, tossed it aside, and I ran my *** off from him since he was coming for me. With the aid of my shoes, I was able to stay ahead as I saw my companions, I also Stickee attacking them with a Dark Gun which Windelle had held with his GunDeLuna back at the team battle at Hollow Bastion. As I ran for Stickee, I then jumped over him and performed Taiyou at him and he was knocked down. When I checked out Sora and Co., he was done with Ansem.

The two evil ones then dismissed their Guardians, and opened a dark rift in the islands. We then ran (I retrieved my shield first, of course) and jumped in but when we landed, I realized only Sora, Florina and I got through (since she was not set as my ally due to the 6-fighter limit, she was automatically 'dragged in'). Just then, Darkside appeared and the three of us had to deal with him.

It was relatively easy and he was defeated. Just then, Ansem and Stickee appeared and engaged the three of us in battle. It was a long and hard battle but we eventually defeated them again. Just then, all of us, even our companions outside, were sucked into the Realm of Darkness (we were still able to see each other) and we found ourselves floating.

The voices of the evil duo then said, "Behold the endless abyss. Within it lies the heart of all worlds: Kingdom Hearts!" And we saw a silver door ahead. "Look as hard as you are able. You'll not find even the smallest glimmer of light. (On the contrary, I saw a glimmer of light just at the door.) From those dark depths are all hearts born. Even yours." Suddenly, we saw a giant Heartless battleship (the World of Chaos).

"Darkness conquers all worlds!" Just then, we were falling and as I saw our companions get sucked in a rainbow rift, Sora, Florina and I continued to fall (I noticed Florina was calm as if she had wings). Just then, I remembered to cast Float (which bacame permanent in this battle) on them and myself and we flew back to the vessel and dealt with the evil duo (Ansem only had his pants now and was wielding a 'Soul Eater' polearm).

I then cast barriers on all of us and kept to his left as we attacked him from afar (Sora used spells). We then came to their backs and attacked away. When lasers were launched from the World of Chaos, Sora and Florina ignored them and pressed on in the attack while I flew about deflecting them. Some time after fighting them, they fused themselves with World Of Chaos and a rainbow rift opened as we crossed it.

We ended up in a room with lots of Shadows, which we destroyed with ease. We also destroyed the floating thing above our heads and retrieved Ilsa, Gregorio, and Donald (All three add up to the 6-fighter limit). The six of us flew out and we then saw another rainbow rift just above the core of World of Chaos. As we flew for it, we had to deal with the Artillery in the way. Once that was taken care of, we flew to the rift and fought Darkballs that were inside. We also destroyed the floating thing above our heads and retrieved Yoris and Goofy (Ilsa and Gregorio are switched out in favor of our recovered allies).

We all then flew out and headed for the front of World of Chaos which we attacked. Eventually it was defeated and it exploded. We then flew to the core (which has lost its barrier) and barraged it with attacks. When it was destroyed, we saw Ansem and Stickee disengage from World of chaos and come for us.

-I'll leave the battle process to your imagination. XD-

After the battle, the two of them vanished for a while as World of Chaos began to explode. After the big bang, they returned to us, weakened (and Ansem was fully clothed again).

"It's hopeless.", they said. "The Keyblade alone can't seal the door to darkness."

They turned towards the door and called out, "Kingdom Hearts. Fill me with the power of darkness… (Black smoke spewed out of it as it was about to open) Supreme darkness…"

"You're wrong.", Sora said. "I know now, without a doubt. Kingdom Hearts… is light!"

And it was as it shined on the two who were stunned. Florina and I nodded to one another, then charged up our guns to perform Taiyou which pierced Ansem and Stickee as they vanished forever. After the ordeal, we landed and ran for the door and tried to close it, but to no avail. When Donald and Goofy looked across, the rest of us did too and saw Heartless everywhere.

As we kept on pushing, we suddenly saw Riku and Windelle across the door saying, "Don't give up! Come on, guys! Together, we can do it!" and they pulled on the door.

Just then, we saw Darksides appear and Ilsa valiantly chose and managed to cross the door, despite the thin opening and rush on them. Just then, the Darksides disappeared (and I was sure Ilsa wasn't the one who did it), and as we looked, we saw Mickey Mouse (whom Donald and Goofy addressed as "Your Majesty!") and a blonde boy in orange clothes (Whom Gregorio and Yoris called out by his name, which was Django).

They said, "Now Sora (Rael and Florina)! Let's close this door for good!"

As the four who called out their named told us to close it quick, Sora, Florina and I hesitated but King Mickey and Django then said, "Don't worry. There will always be a door to the light."

"Now! They're coming!", Windelle, Riku, and Ilsa shouted out.

The seven of us on the other side then pushed with all we got and just before it closed, Riku said, "Take care of her." and Ilsa said, "Don't worry about me! I will protect these guys!".

Sora, Florina, and I (we joined in since Ansem had said, "The Keyblade alone can't seal the door to darkness." so I told Florina to join in with Sora and I did the same, of course) jumped back and aimed at the door and shot at it (King Mickey, Django, and Windelle probably did the same).

Once the door disappeared, we saw Kairi up ahead and Sora ran for her (the rest of us laid behind and watched him go). Just then, the area around us became a countryside with a single road.


	18. Chapter 17: The Search

As we waited for Sora to appear, I suddenly received visions only I could see. The first one was of Minnie Mouse (as a Queen) and Daisy Duck (as a countess) taking a stroll in a garden and that there was a white castle.

Before I could focus any further, the vision changed into one at the Hollow Bastion Library where I saw Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, and Cid (who was without his profanity and his cigar, which a toothpick now replaces) then Cloud, Barret, and the SeeD Remnants came in.

Though I saw Aerith staring at Cloud intently, I saw no more as the scene changed into one where I saw Pinocchio, now a real boy, and Geppetto in their shop hugging one another.

The scene then changed into one of Alladin and Jasmine having a kissing scene (and Abu and Genie peeking).

The scene then changed into one of a Gummi Ship (the one Sora's Co. once flew) landing at the shore of Destiny Islands and when it opened, out came Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka and just outside the doorway, there was a white stick figure.

The scene then changed again into that of a ballroom (presumably that of Hollow Bastion) where the other 5 Princesses of Heart (Jasmine was with Alladin, and Kairi is at Destiny Islands) were dancing.

Just then, I was 'awakened' by Sora, who just joined us.

As we strolled down the path, Gregorio then said, "Well, now what do we do?"

Sora replied, "We've gotta find Riku and King Mickey."

I added, "Don't forget Windelle, Ilsa, and the Solar Boy, Django."

But Florina then said, "But where do we start looking for that door to the light?"

Since none of us had an answer, we all sighed. Just then, we saw a tan dog pass by the road.

Donald called out his name; Pluto. Goofy then greeted him and asked where he's been. Just then, we saw a letter with "the king's" seal, according to Goofy.

Just then, he ran down the road and Sora then said, "Guys, let's go!" As the rest ran along with Sora, I pulled out my scooter (I have less stamina than the others) and used it to follow the gang.

-Kingdom Hearts Remake ends here. Await my next story called Kingdom Hearts Remake: Chain of Memories-


End file.
